HP 1: New American Witch
by fictionfangirl1
Summary: SP:Follows the movie-verse (mostly) and has a few elements from the books, but adds a new character. Read what happens to American student Ezra Redcreek during her 1st year at Hogwarts and befriends the Golden Trio we all know and love. Also all things related to "Harry Potter" belong to J.K. Rowling (amazing woman!)
1. Story Prologue

Surprise. That's the word that comes to mind when I find out that I am a witch. Well, I guess that it's a family trait because after I received the letter that would change my life, my parents told me that magic is real. How do they know? My mother is a witch, but my father is not. He is what the witches and wizards call No-Maj here in America. But that didn't matter to me; they are my parents after all. Also, I never expected that I would have so many adventures and make so many great friends in another country. But you'd want to hear what happened in detail. So let me tell it right.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Life Will Be Different After Today

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ezra Redcreek. I have straight dark brown hair that just ends at my neck, dark brown eyes to match, with a slight gap between my two front teeth, and a small widow's peak in the middle of my forehead. You know how they say that the eyes are the windows to the soul? Well, for every major emotion that I have, people say that I have a look in my eyes to go with it. As for my style, I am a total tomboy, which drives my mother crazy. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a dress or skirt, unless I was required to and I always kept my hair short. It was a struggle for me to let my hair grow out, and my mom wanted that so much for me. But she knew that I would try to have it as short as I could. I tried using the reasoning that shorter hair is easier to manage, but she wouldn't buy it. Eventually, we came to a compromise that I wouldn't chop it off that I looked like a boy, but I could have it end at my shoulders. And I kept it like that ever since. I also come to a disappointing height of 4'9" with a light tan skin tone thanks to being born and raised in sunny and warm California. My mother, Diana, is from Boston, Massachusetts; and my father, Tyler, is from Jackson, Mississippi. So when I speak, I have a slight Southern accent thanks to my dad. Most of the time, I don't notice it until my friends ask me to repeat myself so they can hear me more clearly. Lots of people say that I look so much like my mom except for my hair (her hair is light brown) and that I act so much like my dad. But enough about me and my family life. Here is how I got my letter to my new school in England.

It was January 18th that my letter came. I had just turned 11 three days before on the 15th and had a small get-together with my friends from school to celebrate. But now, I was trying to do my social studies homework and be done for the evening, because God forbid that my teacher Mr. Colemann assign us another pop quiz this week. I'm not saying that I am flat-out failing; I just need a break from these dang quizzes! But what can you do about it?

Meanwhile, my mom was busy studying from her books over ancient languages and writing down notes addressed to a group called MACUSA, while my dad was busy working with his independent contracting company at a client's apartment and wouldn't get home until I was about to go to bed. Suddenly, there was a slight commotion at the door and I swear I could hear an owl hooting every minute or so. "Hey Ez, can you go check what's at the door for me? Thanks kid!" Mom called from our home office. I was silently thanking the world for this distraction, cuz I was starting to go insane from the reading. When I opened the door, there really was an owl perched on the handrail near the stairs with a beige envelope in its beak. I plucked the envelope from the bird and it immediately flew off as it saying, " _My work here is done. Later."_ _This is so weird_ , I thought. _Aren't owls supposed to be nocturnal? It's still light outside. Ain't that somethin'._ I turned it over to see who it was addressed to. Turns out, it was for me because in decorative green print the front said: **Miss E. Redcreek, The Room on the Second Floor, 913 Benito Road, Los Angeles, California, United States** with a formal looking symbol of some animals and the letter H in bold on the back. _A'ight, things just got a whole lot weirder._


	3. Chapter 2

"So, what happened outside?" Mom asked, not looking up from her papers. "You'd be surprised. There was an owl outside and had this letter for me in its beak." I told her as I dropped the letter next to her invoices. She gained a facial expression of wonder and happiness that I had never seen before. _Is this familiar to her somehow?_ I thought. She dropped her pen and wrapped me up in the biggest hug she could. "I remember getting a letter like this when I was about your age, but it was for Ilvermorny instead of Hogwarts. I was hoping that we'd have another witch or wizard in our family." _OK, hol'up and back up. A witch?! That's impossible; they don't exist._ But then it hit me; my mother knew about this stuff 'cuz she's a witch.

"Mom…" I started to say. But she immediately cut me off and as if she was reading my mind she said, "Yes, I am a witch. However, your dad is not. He is what wizards call a No-Maj, short for Non-Magical. Pretty self-explanatory, right? But what I don't get is why Hogwarts sent you a letter instead of Ilvermorny." "Wait, before you go any further, how are ya sure that I'm a witch?" I asked, cuz I needed some form of proof that I was able to do magic. "Oh, I'm sure. So is your father. Do you remember when you were 6 and went to your friend Hope's house for a sleepover? She had a bunk bed and you decided to take the top one. You were climbing down the ladder to get something when you slipped on one of the rungs and fell. You almost cracked your head, but somehow you were suspended about a foot off the ground for about two seconds before hitting the floor gently. At first I was worried that you might've gotten seriously injured, but I realized you used accidental magic unconsciously to save yourself. Fortunately, Hope and her parents didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary, but believe me, they took extra precaution every time you came over." "Wow!" was all I could say. I remembered the sleepover at Hope's house and the near-accident, but not the two-second suspension off the floor. _So I used magic even as a kid, even though I didn' really figure out how I could back then._

Just then, Dad arrived in the door. _Dang, he's early!_ "Hey An, Hi Ezzy! How was y'alls day?" "Eventful" "Fine..." Dad turned to me and said, "Shoot kid, there's somethin' goin' on if all I get is just a 'fine' from you. What's up?" "Should I show 'im?" "It's your letter, not mine, but if it will ease your father's mind, then yes," replied Mom. And so I show the letter to Dad and he got just as excited as Mom did. "Darlin' this is amazin'. But all the way out across the sea?" _I can see that Dad's proud, but he ain't a wizard. How could he know about Mom bein' a witch?_ I musta said my question a little bit louder than expected, because he said, "After your ma graduated from Ilvermorny, she went on an' took a job as curse-breaker. Her job took her everywhere in Massachusetts, sometimes outta state, and I ended up meeting her by chance and learned about wizardkind; an' the rest is history. Well, whatcha waitin' for kid? Open the letter 'n see what it says." He didn' havta tell me me twice!

The first thing I saw on the letter was the school symbol on top. It had a few animals surrounding the ornate H. Top left was a lion in a red background; top right was a snake with a green backdrop; bottom left was a badger with a yellow background behind it; and a raven with a dark blue backdrop. Then came the message. _The important stuff. Whatsit say?_ In a fancy script, the text read:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

Order of Merlin, First Class, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump

Dear Miss Redcreek,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of the necessary supplies. Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

I couldn't believe it; my parents couldn't believe it. I was going to Hogwarts to learn magic!


	4. Chapter 3

No-Maj school came and went faster than I expected. However, that's not to say that I didn't have a bittersweet sendoff at school. I'll admit, there were tears shed between both the girls and boys. How could we not cry? I mean, we've known each other since kindergarten and for one of us to leave just before we would take on the maze that is middle school? Unfair! The news about me transferring to another school in the UK spread like wildfire, and all of my friends spent as much time as they could with me during the summer before I had to pack, gather my supplies, and send off my owl to Hogwarts. Of course, no one except for my parents knew about Hogwarts in detail and well, it had to be a secret. I promised that I would send letters to them so that we could keep in touch, even though they looked at me funny and wondered why I couldn't just call them on the phone. But we still pledged to never forget each other and stay close.

My parents and I went to pick up school supplies in Diagon Alley, after Professor McGonagall sent us some Floo powder and instructions on how to use it as a side note in my acceptance letter. The first time we used Floo Powder was an interesting experience. After reading the instructions, I was still skeptical about attempting this method of travel; and so was my dad. My mom however to Floo like a fish to water, and performed it a couple of times to show that it was safe, as long as you said your destination clearly. The minute we arrived in Diagon Alley, it felt like we were in a completely different world. The people's clothes seemed all formal and distinguished, but looked like they belonged in a costume convention. The letter also said to report to a man named Rebeus Hagrid for help around the alley. We eventually found him in a building called the Leaky Cauldron. Let me tell you, it was a workout, getting over the fact that he was almost twice as tall as my dad. But he showed that he was a dependable guy and friendly to those who needed help, like us. He took us to Gringotts, the only wizarding bank in the world, and helped us to transfer our No-Maj money into Muggle (British way of saying No-Maj) money first, then transfer the Muggle currency to wizard coins. I will say that it's gonna be hard to remember the exchange rates when we travel back and forth, but it'll be worth it.

So far I had gotten all of my books and most of my equipment. All that was left to get was my pet, wand, and robes that were the right size. We split up for the time being. My parents went to the owl emporium because I had asked for an owl. They figured I would ask for a cat or toad, because I like cats and toads didn't freak me out. But I told them how I wanted to stay in touch with my old friends and thought that an owl would be best for that. They agreed and I went off nearby to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Hogwarts uniform, dearie?" Madam asked. "Yes, ma'am." "Well, I'm a bit tied up with fitting this one here, but one of my girls can take care of you." I got a glimpse of the client she was working on. It was a boy who looked like he was my age, and his most glaring feature was his slicked-back, white-blond hair that ended mid-neck. Then one of the shop girls guided me to a mirror and a stool to step on. I guess that he caught my glimpse towards him and I swear that I could hear an I'm-so-much-better-than-you tone in his voice. "Are you going to be a first-year at Hogwarts?" he asked. "Yes, I am. Why? Do I not look like one?" "Slightly, you look younger than normal. Also, what kind of accent is that? It doesn't sound like English." "I'm from the United States, so maybe that's why." He shrugged off my answer in a half-uncaring, half-understanding mood. "My name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." "Nice to meet you, Draco. My name is Ezra Redcreek." I responded, shaking hands with him. "So, do you know what House you'll be sorted into?" he asked me. I learned from my mom that Ilvermorny and Hogwarts sort their students into specific houses, but I didn't know how the process worked, nor the names of the Houses in Hogwarts, so I shook my head "no." "Well, let me give you some advice. Don't go over to Gryffindor. It's the worst house you can be placed in, except maybe Hufflepuff. They're a load of sods. As for me, I hope I'm placed in Slytherin." "Well, whatever house I go into, I'm sure that it will be worthwille." I said, seeing that Madam had finished with him and he was off to reunite with his family. "I suppose so. See you around, Ezra." "You as well, Draco", although I didn't mean it that much because his attitude rubbed me the wrong way. Soon after, the shop girl was finished with me, and I paid Madam correct change and thanked them on the way out.

Finally, it was time to head to Ollivander's. Hagrid told me that there wasn't a finer wand shop than that one. When I went into the store, it looked like an old abandoned, athletic shoe outlet, but with wands. I rang the bell on the front desk, and immediately, an old man smiled down at me from the ladder he was holding onto. "Hello, child. What is your name?" he asked with a voice that reminded me of a kind grandfather. "Ezra. Ezra Redcreek, Mr. Ollivander." I said, quieter than I expected. He smiled at me and replied, "There's no need to be nervous, dear girl. The wand chooses the wizard, so believe me when I say that we'll find the right one for you. Now, am I correct in assuming that your writing arm is your right arm?" "Yessir." He handed me wand a wand to test out and told me to wave it. I did, and unfortunately, broke a few windowpanes in the store. I was so embarrassed, but he reassured me that it wasn't a problem, and fixed them as if they were brand new. I tested four more wands, each destroying something in the store when I waved them, and was tempted to apologize every time. Finally, he handed me a black wand that almost reached up to my elbow. At first, I got a chill up my spine, then a warm feeling spread throughout my body, as if I was sitting in a hot tub. I gave it a gentle wave and wisps of different colors shot out and swirled around me in a calm, yet playful manner. This put a smile on Ollivander's face, "Ha ha! We've found a wand for you, my dear. Black walnut wood, unyielding flexibility, and 12¾ inches with a dragon heartstring core. Seven Galleons, please." I paid him and went on my way while saying goodbye to him and thanking him for his help. My mom and dad met me outside the shop a minute later with a barn owl in a steel cage, and I named him Polaris after the North Star. Packing was complete, and I got all my supplies. All that's left now is to get to Hogwarts!


	5. Chapter 4

_Here we go. I can't believe this is happenin'!_ If you couldn't tell, I was pretty excited about going to my new school. September 1 came faster than I thought. The time difference took a toll on me for the first few days we were in England but I got used to it a couple of days ago.

My parents and I were at King's Cross Train Station, with specific instructions from Hagrid to arrive at Platform 9¾ by 11 AM. We looked around for a pillar that had 9¾ printed on the sides, but all we saw were 9 and 10. Dad decided to ask around and came back a minute later with a huge family to help us. They all had the same bright ginger hair that you could see for miles. The eldest boy with his cart ran at full speed to the pillar, ran through it as if he were a ghost, and disappeared. _Did that jus' happen?! That was so COOL!_ Then two more boys, identical twins were about to run through the pillar. The woman, who seemed to be their mother, ushered them by saying, "Fred, you next." "He's not Fred, _I_ am!" the twin on the right said with his brother adding his two-bits to her "Honestly woman, you call yourself our mother?" "Oh, sorry George" she said, a bit flustered. The first twin walked up to where his older brother was and said before running, "Only joking, I am Fred" with his mom giving him a look that said, _"Boy, don't start with me!"_ and George followed right behind Fred to who-knows-where on the other side of the pillar. I'd started to get the idea of how to get through the barrier and said a heartfelt goodbye to my parents. They wished me safe travels, with Mom tearing up saying how I was so growin' up so fast. Dad gave me a mini-lecture to do good in school and not to come back with any boyfriends, 'cause I wasn't allowed to date until I was 40, with me telling him that he was being ridiculous, but still telling me to have fun and make new friends. I pledged to owl them a few days into the school year when I was familiar with everything.

As I was about to take my turn at the barrier, I almost ran into a new boy that had a cart with what I could assume was his Hogwarts gear. He had jet-black hair that was a bit messy and circular glasses that had been taped at the bridge. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I wasn't watchin' where I was goin'" I apologized "Don't mention it. Are you going to Hogwarts?" he asked. "Yeah. I can see that you're headin' there too. I'm a first year. What year are ya?" I responded. "I am a first year too!" he said, looking slightly relieved that he wasn't the only 11-year-old who was heading to Platform 9¾. "Excuse me?" he called out to the red haired woman. "Could you tell us how to…" "How to get on to the platform, yes. Don't worry dears, it's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well. Now all you've got to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do it in a bit of a run if you're nervous." Ron's mom told us and her daughter wished us good luck before we ran up to the wall and disappearing until we arrived at Platform 9¾ where the Hogwarts Express train was waiting for us.

I wasted no time in handing off my luggage to the attendants and thanked them before boarding the train. Once I was on, I saw so many kids and teenagers conversing with each other, whether they were new first years like me introducing themselves or older students who definitely knew the ropes and sat with their friends.

It seemed like forever before I found a section that wasn't completely occupied. It was the jet-black haired boy who I almost ran into with my cart on accident who was sitting across from the youngest ginger haired boy, Ron. I poked my head out and said "Sorry to bother y'all, but are ya savin' a spot for anyone or can I sit there? Ain't no more room in the other cars" I asked. "Oh, sure. Take a seat," the black haired boy replied. I sat next to Ron and closed to the door. "I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley." "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Harry said introducing himself. Ron almost went pale when Harry said his name and asked, "So, it's true…I mean…do you really have the…the…" "The what?" Harry asked prodding Ron on with his question. "... _scar?_ " Ron said in a whisper. _Why would a person's scar be so important that he hasta talk so low?_ I got my answer when Harry pushed his bangs from his forehead and showed us his scar that looked just like a lightning bolt. "Wicked!" Ron was impressed, as was I 'cause I said "Crazy cool!" "You know; your accent seems a bit strange. Where are you from?" Harry asked me. "I'm from the United States." I said, with a bit of pride for my country. "Oh, that's it! I heard from my brother George that it's the first time an American is coming to Hogwarts." Ron said. "Oh, great. I'll be the odd one out when it comes to that." I said half-joking, half-dejected. "Don't worry, you'll bring something unique to the school this year." Harry said, trying to cheer me up, which actually worked, "Thanks." "By the way, we never got your name" he said. My name is Ezra Redcreek. Nice to meet y'all" I said shaking their hands.

A middle-aged woman came up to our car and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?" "No thanks, I'm all set" Ron said, dejectedly while holding up a smashed sandwich bag. I didn't have much to eat at breakfast, and it was coming back to haunt me. I wanted to say yes, but I didn't have enough money to buy something. Harry must have sensed our dilemmas, because he took a handful of Galleons from his pocket and said, "We'll take the lot." _Is he secretly rich or somethin'? Where do ya get that many gold coins and walk aroun' the place like nothins' gonna happen?_ But I didn't complain 'cause he bought a bit of everything off the cart and shared with us. Ron switched spots and sat next to him.

We traded several sweets on the train ride. I handed over my Chocolate Frogs to them and gave them the cards that were in my pack, because I wasn't too interested in collecting them. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Harry wondered. They looked like regular jelly beans to me, except that they came in every color you could think of. "They mean every flavor. There's chocolate and peppermint, and there's also spinach, liver and tripe. George swears he got a bogey-flavored one once." Ron explained. "What's a bogey?" I asked, hanging upside-down from the seat. It sounded like something nasty based on the look on Harry's face. "Oh, right. Americans and British have different words and spellings for some things. It's what you would call a booger" Ron told me. "Oh…Oh _,_ that's straight-up _nastay!_ " I couldn't imagine eating a bean that tasted like something that comes out your nose. "Huh?" the boys wondered. "Oh, sorry. I said that I thought that the idea of a _bogey-_ flavored bean was disgusting," I translated for myself. "Your accent is different from what I expected. You drag out some words and cut others short. Why?" Ron asked. "That may be because of where my parents are from. It's weird, really. My mom's from Boston; my dad's from Jackson; but I'm from Los Angeles. Even though we're from different cities in America, the one major thing that I picked up from Dad was his Southern accent. So maybe that's why it sounds different." I explained to Ron. "That makes sense. I like it. Can you teach us some American words sometime?" "Sure I can, if y'all can tell me the British version that I can use not to confuse everyone." "Absolutely," they agreed. Harry let me try a Cauldron Cake with a few Flavor Beans from Ron. I ended up with good flavors like lemon, pasta, pepperoni pizza, and blood, which to my surprise, wasn't actually as bad as I thought. I also got bad flavors like lima beans, sweat, and raw eggs.

"This is Scabbers, by the way. Pathetic, isn't he?" Ron said, showing his pet rat. I never was scared of rats, mice, spiders, or snakes. In fact, when I was younger, I would often wish I could have one of those animals as a pet, before I knew I was a witch and got Polaris. I got a good look at him and the first thing I noticed was his mud brown color and the fact that he was missing one of his toes. Harry and I simultaneously said, "Just a little bit." "Fred gave me a spell to turn him yellow. Want to see?" "Sure." Ron cleared his throat and just as he was about to chant the spell, a girl with bushy, light brown hair came to our car, already dressed up in her Hogwarts uniform. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." We shook our heads no. She saw Ron with his wand out and said, "Oh, you're doing magic? Let's see it then." Ron cleared his throat again and chanted the words: "Sunshine, daises, butter mellow. Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!" There was a yellow flash, but Scabbers remained his mud brown color. "Are you sure that's a _real_ spell? Well, it's not very good, it is? Of course, I've only tried a few simple spells. But they've all worked for me." _Dang, this girl's a big showoff._ I positioned myself to sit back rightside-up as she sat next to me near the window and pointed her wand at Harry's glasses. "For example…Oculus Reparo." In an instant, the tape holding the bridge together disappeared and his glasses looked brand-new. "That's better, isn't it?...Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger, and you two are? "I'm Ezra Redcreek." Ron introduced himself with his mouth semi-full of sweets, "Ron Weasley." "Pleasure...You three better get changed into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." She turned to me and asked, "Do you need help with anything before we arrive?" "Yeah, how 'bout my necktie when I get to that part," I replied. She nodded and went on her way, but turned to Ron and mentioned, "You've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know that? Just there," she said before leaving.

It didn't take me too long to get dressed. I had five minutes to spare when I was done. Finally, the call for everyone to disembark came over the loudspeaker. We were here. Hagrid held a lantern near his head and called, "First years, this way! Come on now, don't be shy! Out!" We came up to him, and he greeted us, "Hello Harry. Good to see you Ezra." "Hi Hagrid." "Hey there, Hagrid." Ron was rightly surprised when he saw how tall Hagrid was and let out an awestruck, "Whoa!" Hagrid then led us to a dock where a lot of rowboats were tethered to the post. We sat in groups of four and the boats led us to the gigantic castle that was Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Memorable Sorting and First Night

After the boat ride, Hagrid led us first-years up a gigantic staircase until we stopped in front of middle aged witch, who I guessed was Professor McGonagall. _She seems like type that don't tolerate no funny business. Whatever she's teachin', I better not mess up in her class!_ She stood in front of a pair of giant, ornate doors and said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments, you pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now, while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points; any rule-breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup." _Oh, so there's a yearly competition for the Houses. Sounds neat, but nerve-wrackin' at the same time. Just don't do stupid stuff and do well in classes, Ez!_ While I was contemplating the professor's words, there was a croaking sound like a frog was nearby. Turns out, there was a toad near her feet, and Neville, the boy who was searching for his toad on the train, was overjoyed to find him. "Trevor!" he shouted, but muttered a quick "Sorry" when he saw the professor's stern face at being interrupted. "The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a moment" she said before walking away to leave us alone for a little bit.

Then, the distinguishable haughty voice of Draco rang out. "So it's true. What they were saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Everyone started whispering Harry's name in astonishment. He made his way to the front, along with two other boys. "This is Crabbe and Goyle" he said nodding to the two slightly-dimwitted boys behind him, "and I'm Malfoy…Draco Malfoy." Apparently Ron found this a bit humorous and snorted, but Draco didn't share the sentiment. "Think my name's funny do you? No need to ask _your_ name. Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe. You must be a Weasley" he said with such disdain as if being in Ron's family was a bad thing. "You'll find that some wizarding families are better than other, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort" looking back at Ron. "I can help you there" he offered, holding his hand out for Harry to shake. "I think that I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks" Harry politely refused and not a moment too soon, McGonagall came back and tapped Malfoy on the shoulder. He went back to his spot, but not before giving Harry a look that said, _"Wrong choice, Potter."_

"We're ready for you now; follow me" McGonagall said and the doors opened up and a huge dining hall was in front of us, with four long tables with the older students waiting for us, and a fifth long table at the end of the hall where the teachers were sitting. The ceiling above us looked like a clear view of the night sky. McGonagall stopped a few feet from the teachers' table and on her left was a stool with an old hat on top of it. "Now before we begin, Professor Dumbledore has a few words he would like to say" she said before the headmaster spoke. "I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce. The first-years, please note, that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is strictly out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a painful death." McGonagall then picked up the hat and said, "When I call your name, you will come forth. I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head." _How is the hat gonna know what house we belong to?_ I wondered.

She started with last names alphabetically and called up a blonde-haired girl named Hannah Abbott. The hat came alive and took a few moments until it shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff table cheered for Hannah and the sorting continued. Next up was a girl named Susan Bones, and the hat declared that she was to go to Hufflepuff as well. Terry Boot became the first new Ravenclaw, Lavender Brown was the first new Gryffindor, and Millicent Bulstrode went to Slytherin. Soon, it was Hermione's turn. "Ok relax, relax" she told herself. "Mental, that one, I'm telling you" Ron whispered to us. Hermione sat down and the Hat said, "Right, then… okay…GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table clapped as she hopped off the stool and went to join the other students of her newly appointed house. The list went on until Professor McGonagall came to Malfoy. He didn't need to be at the stool for very long, because the Hat barely touched his hair when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" _Guess Draco got his wish and went to the house he wanted._ "There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin" Ron commented.

While a few more first-years got sorted, Harry suddenly hissed and put his hand up to his forehead, as if his scar was hurting. "Harry, you feelin' alright? What's wrong?" I asked. "Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine" he brushed off. Soon, McGonagall called the name that everyone was waiting for, and it got deathly quiet. Harry walked up to the Hat and it took a while for the Hat to make a decision.

 **General POV**

"Hmm…difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, and not a bad mind either. There's talent, yes; and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?" It seemed Harry had a dislike for Slytherin based on what Ron said and those that had been sorted into Slytherin already. "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin," Harry silently pleaded, and the Hat said, "Not Slytherin, are you sure? You could be great, you know. It's all in your head, and Slytherin could lead you on the way to greatness; there's no doubt about that. No? Well if you're sure, better be…GRYFFINDOR!" Everybody at Gryffindor's table whooped and hollered. You could hear Fred and George chanting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

 **Ezra's POV**

Then, it was my turn, and McGonagall called me up. "Ezra Redcreek." I'd be lyin' if I said I was fine; I was dead nervous. I walked up to the stool, and the Hat began its analysis. "Ah, an American student, eh? You're the first to come here. Let's see what you possess…Hmm, an intelligent mind and a deep-thinker, possibly Ravenclaw. You also advocate for fairness among others and are kindhearted, that's Hufflepuff. But you also are willing to try new things and won't hesitate to stand by your friends in times of need. Gryffindor might suit you. And you also have the drive, cunning, and determination to get the job done, like a Slytherin…. You're more difficult than that Potter boy…. Ah, no…. Perhaps…No, how about…It's most difficult to decide between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw..." _Well, I trust your judgement in where to put me, but people are startin' to notice, if they haven't already, that I've been up here for a good, long while,_ I thought to the Hat. It seemed surprised that I would go where it told me to. 'Cause for all I knew, it could make a random decision to send me to Slytherin in the next two seconds. "Well, since you're sure I will put you in the right House, I suppose you'll do nicely in…GRYFFINDOR!" _What took ya so long?_ I thought to the Hat, and it laughed humorlessly as it was lifted off my head.

The whole hall had a look that screamed _"Finally!"_ but Gryffindor table still cheered for me, just the same. "What made the Hat take so long with you?" Hermione wondered. "Would believe me if I said I asked the same question? Apparently it was havin' a tough time between placing me in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor" I said. "I'll say; you were a bloody Hatstall up there!" George said to me. "A Hat-what?" "Hat-stall. It's what you call a student whose sorting takes more than 5 minutes for the Hat to make a decision. You were up there for 15 minutes!" "Well, it did say that I was more difficult to place than Harry." "Honestly? I thought I was difficult when I asked it not to put me in Slytherin." Harry said, surprised. "Well, in any case, I'm glad the Hat put me here." "The feelings mutual. Hi, I'm Gred, and this is my brother Forge. Think you can tell us apart?" Fred asked me, thinking that I would be wrong. " _Fred_ is on my right and _George_ is on my left." I said, surprising them and Hermione. "How could you tell?" "It's hard to explain, but the best way I can is that their voices say that Fred is one who plans everything while George is more of a smooth talker." "Nice accent. Where did you get it, America?" "Why yes, I did. Born n' bred there. Ezra Redcreek." I said introducing myself. I shook hands with the twins and Percy, their older brother who seemed like a person who had a penchant for being in charge, but still someone who knew the school like the back of his hand.

"Ronald Weasley" McGonagall called Ron up. He turned bedsheet pale and took his place at the stool. "Ha! Another Weasely! I know just what to do with you…GRYFFINDOR!" Ron breathed a sigh of relief and went to join his older brothers. Blaise Zabini was the last person to get sorted and he went to Slytherin. While we were chatting amongst ourselves, Professor McGonagall tapped her wine glass and called, "Your attention, please?" Dumbledore spoke up and said, "Let the feast…begin." Suddenly food appeared on the table. All different kinds of meats, vegetables, salads, pastas, beans, rice, potatoes, the whole works! While people were eating, a few conversations were going around. For instance, I started talking to two other Gryffindor first years, Dean Thomas and an Irish kid, Seamus Finnegan. "I'm half and half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mum's a witch. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out." Turns out that Seamus and I's family situation was the same. Dean and I really connected when I found out that he was a soccer fan, and we had a full blown conversation/debate about who was the best team. Seamus asked me questions about America and any difference between magic there and Hogwarts. It was a bit confusing for them when I used American terms, especially when I told them to pass me certain food items, but I cleared it up for them by asking them again with their British terms. I moved back to Harry, Hermione, Ron. Suddenly, a ghost popped outta nowhere and introduced himself as Sir Nicholas, the ghost of Gryffindor tower. Soon ghosts from the other houses and many more were floating around the hall. "Hello Sir Nicholas. Have a nice summer?" Percy asked. Sir Nicholas frowned and said with a huff, "Dismal. Once again, my request to join the Headless Hunt has been denied!" Before he floated away, Ron said, "I know you! You're Nearly Headless Nick." "I prefer Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind." "Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "Like this…", when he promptly pulled his head to the side to show all the bloody details of his failed decapitation and swung it back as if it were on a hinge. _So that's what it means to show, not tell. Nastay!_

Soon dinner was over, and Percy led us to the Gryffindor dormitories. He warned us about the staircases and how they liked to change direction. We stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in pink who said, "Password?" "Caput Draconis." The portrait swung open and Percy led us the common room. Boys' dorms were to the left and girls' were on the right. I found myself rooming with Parvarti and Padma Patil, Lavender, and Hermione. I saw that all our luggage had been brought up to our room like Percy said. I brushed my teeth, changed into my night clothes, and read a few pages in our school books before going to sleep, wondering what the first day of classes would bring.


	7. Chapter 6

The next morning, I was last person to get up. I was in the middle of a dreamless sleep when I felt someone shaking my arm. "..ra. Ezra, wake up." "Go'way ma. Just ten more minutes," I groaned and rolled over. "Ezra, it's Hermione. Classes start today, and we have to get ready," Hermione insisted and kept shaking me. I couldn't fall back to sleep after and few more seconds of her shaking me. "Alrigh', okay. I'm awake." "Not a morning person, are you?" Padma asked. "Not really, but give me some breakfast and a cup of coffee, and I'll be okay," I muttered sleepily. Pavarti looked at me funny and asked, "You drink coffee? Since when?" "Since I was five years old," I responded and ignored the weird looks from Hermione and the twins. They were getting changed into their uniforms and Lavender was brushing her teeth. Hermione looked all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, almost fussing with excitement. I couldn't blame her; I was a little excited as well.

I got dressed and headed down the stairs with the others. Hermione and I noticed that some of the boys hadn't come down yet, much less woke up. "Hey Fred, George, could the two of you see if the boys are awake? If we're up, they gotta get up too," I said. "You've got legs and a mouth. You can do it yourself," George replied. "Thanks for the help," I said sarcastically. Then I went up to the boys' dorm to see the damage. Ron and Harry were fast asleep. Dean and Neville were snoring away, and Seamus had one of his arms hanging off the side of the bed. Fred and George decided to follow me to see what I would do. "I'll give them a few more moments of peace..." I said and waited for three seconds before walking to the curtains. I yanked them open and yelled, "Everybody up!" Sunlight shone throughout the room and the boys yelled a startled, "Ah!" Harry, Ron, and Neville covered their eyes. Dean shot up real quick, and Seamus almost fell out of bed. "C'mon, up and at'em!" "What time is it?" Seamus moaned. "It's time to wake up 'n get ready, that's what time it is," I said, walking around, pulled the covers off of them, and speaking like a drill sergeant. Harry fumbled around for his glasses and put them on before reading a nearby clock. "It's 7:23. Ezra, it's too early," Harry grumbled before flopping back down into bed. "Classes don't start until 9!" Dean shouted and went back to bed. "So? There's people who hafta get up at the crack of dawn for work. But do they complain? Of course not. So stop moanin' and groaning and get up," I explained."Ezra, would you please let us go back to sleep?" Neville groaned and pulled the covers back over him. "No, because if I had to get up early and take it standing, then so do y'all,' I explained, my voice laced with annoyance at Hermione waking me up. "Ezra, just get out and leave us be!" Ron said, and chucked a pillow at my head.

Fred and George saw the whole thing and gasped when the pillow whacked me in the face and fell with a thud. _Oh, you did not just do...WHAT I THINK YOU DID! _"Well Ronnie, it was nice knowing you," George whisper-warned. "What'll we tell Mum when we get back? That our dear younger brother was murdered on his first day?" Fred wondered in mock worry. I took a deep breath and walked out of the room and skimmed through my Charms book. "Do you even know how to do _any_ of the spells yet?" Hermione asked. "Naw, but no better time to learn than the present," I said not looking up from my book. I finally found what I was looking for, raced back up the stairs, and slammed the door open. Those boys immediately went back to sleep like I had suspected. "Aguamenti!" I chanted. Short, but powerful bursts of water came out from my wand onto the boys faces. That made them shoot up out of bed and say things like, "Enough!" "Bloody hell!" "We're up!" and "That's cold!" I knew I had them alert now. " _Now_ , you decide to wake up. If y'all aren't ready in the next two minutes, we're leavin' ya behind!" I called over my shoulder. Fred and George greeted me down the stairs with, "Teach us your ways, oh wise and young one!" "However did you manage to do that? We won't use that spell until probably four years from now," Hermione wondered. "It was either that or keep shouting at them to get up. That choice was made after Ron chucked a pillow at my face," I said. Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville started walking down the stairs yawning and glancing at me, irritated. "Don't look at me. If you don't want to face the consequences and miss everything, then git up when you're supposed to!" I waited until the boys walked in front of me. Then I got a chance to smack Ron upside the head. "Ow! Blimey, Ezra, what was that for?!" "You throw something at my face, ya get whacked. Remember that, all y'all! I don't play that foolishness!" I said curtly and walked to the Great Hall with everyone.

At breakfast, I saw McGonagall handing out schedules to every House table. When I picked up mine, I saw that classes lasted for about an hour with breaks in between (probably to get around 'cause the castle is so huge!) and some were extended, running for two hours. But that happened for a couple of classes. I read that my classes were Charms, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Flying wouldn't start till next week.

Classes didn't start until 9 AM, and I had a bit of trouble finding the room. But I eventually did, and had a couple minutes to spare. I saw an empty seat next to Hermione and took it. She looked grateful for the company and Professor McGonagall walked into the room precisely at 9 and gave an introduction to what Transfiguration entailed. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not return" she said in a stern tone, transformed into a gray tabby cat, and hopped onto her own desk, while watching us copy some notes from the board. Then, about 5 minutes into class Harry and Ron busted through the door, running and panting. "Whew! We made it. Could you image the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" Ron asked Harry. Not a moment after he said that, McGonagall, in cat form, sprang from her desk and changed back into her human form, stern-faced as ever. "That was bloody brilliant!" he said awe-struck. "Thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time," McGonagall said. "We got lost," Harry answered. "Then perhaps a map. I trust you don't need a map to find your seats," she replied. That put the boys in their place and they looked embarrassed. They sat down behind us and took notes on what was on the blackboard.

Soon, we went down to the dungeons and had double Potions. That wasn't so bad…until Slytherin students started walking in. _Perfect, just perfect. Note the sarcasm._ I sat next to a timid looking boy named Neville Longbottom. Just as everyone was being seated, Professor Snape came in, making me jump out of surprise. "There will be no foolish wand waving, or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion making" he said in his no-nonsense, condescending voice. _Ain't that just a little bit stereotyping?_ "However, for those select few who possess this predisposition…" he said looking at a Malfoy and a few other Slytherins, "I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

His gaze switched over to us Gryffindors and glanced at Harry, who had his head down, writing notes on what Snape said. "Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough…to _not pay attention!_ " Hermione nudged Harry to stop writing, and he put his quill down. "Mr. Potter…our new celebrity" Snape began, "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand went up in a second, but Harry shook his head saying he didn't know the answer. "You don't know? Let's try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" _I think that's a stone that you'd find in a goat's stomach._ Again, Hermione shot her hand up, and I had my hand up halfway so that Harry could still see him. "I don't know, sir," Harry said. Snape asked one more question. "And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" _Ok, that one's easy. They're the exact same thing. A third name for it is aconite. Thank god I read some of the books last night before going to bed._ Hermione and I had our hands high in the air, hoping he would call on one of us, instead of trying to embarrass Harry. "Pity. Clearly, fame isn't everything, is it, Mr. Potter?" "Clearly Hermione and Ezra know the answers. Seems a shame not to ask them" Harry shot back. _Harry, you're cool 'n all, but WHY did you say that?!_ Snape wasn't pleased, to say the least and took a chair to his desk and sat down in front of him. "Put your hands down, silly girls. For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful, it's known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone found in the stomach of a goat, at it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." I wrote this down in my notes, and somehow Snape took notice of that while berating Harry. "Well, why is Miss Redcreek the only student copying this down?" The others quickly got their quills and parchment. Snape went to his desk and decided to deduct us House points, "And Gryffindors, note five points will be taken from your house, for your classmate's cheek." _Say what? You're the one who asked him questions he didn't know, so that ain't fair._ I was about to speak my mind, when Neville put a hand to my shoulder and shook his head told me, "Don't say anything. We'll lose more points."

Soon, it was lunch and a lot of the first years were gathered at the Great Hall tables. Seamus was attempting to turn the water in his glass into rum, but all he got was a loud explosion in his face. It managed to leave ashes and burn his eyebrows off. Some of the Gryffindors laughed, while Hermione waved the smoke away from her face. "If that ain't a sign of someone being accident-prone, then I don' know what is" I said trying to lighten the mood. Then a bunch of screeching owls were heard from overhead. "Ah, the mail's here" Ron sighed. Soon, about a hundred owls were flying down and dropping packages to their owners. Neville opened up a small box from his grandmother, and inside was a small glass ball with a gold ring going around it. "Hey, Neville's got a Remembrall!" Dean observed. "I've read about those! The smoke turns red when you've forgotten something." Hermione explained, and sure enough, a smoke cloud appeared in the ball and turned red a second later. "The only problem is…I can't remember what I've forgotten." Neville said. "Oh, I know what that's like. I hate that feeling. Maybe it's a book you left in a classroom or your cloak in your room. Try those" I suggested. "It's not my books, but it may be my cloak. Thanks Ezra!" he said running to the common room to check.


	8. Chapter 7

The next week came, and it was the Monday that we would start flying lessons. I learned from Hermione that she wasn't particularly looking forward to this class because there was no book for it. I told her that it was more of a hands-on class that she would be alright. We stood in two lines, broomsticks in front of us on the ground. Soon Madam Hooch, our flying teacher came out to meet us. "Good afternoon, class" she said greeting us. "Good afternoon, Madam Hooch" everyone replied back. "Welcome to your first flying lesson. Everyone step up to the left side of the broomstick. Well, what are you waiting for; come on, hurry up" she instructed. We all complied. "Now, stick your right hand over the broom, and say up" she said and put her hand out for us to copy. "UP!" everyone shouted; Harry, Malfoy, and a few others got their brooms in their hands on the first try. It took some a few tries, while other brooms just rolled in the grass. Hermione's raised a few inches off the ground and went back down a few times. I got mine after saying "up" three times. Ron, however, was having problems getting his broom to even move until he said "up" for about the tenth time and his broom shot up and whacked him in the face. Dean and Neville saw this and started giggling. "Ok, you gotta admit Ron, _that_ was funny!" I said failing to hold in my laughter. Harry was laughing next to me. "Shut up, you two," Ron muttered, embarrassed.

"Right, now once you've got a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it, and grip it tight. You don't want to be sliding off the end," Madam Hooch instructed. "Now, when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly, and touch back down. On my whistle: three, two…" She blew her whistle and Neville started to rise above the ground, flying around haphazardly. The poor boy was scared out of his mind and calling for help. His broom seemed to have a mind of its own and bumped against the walls. It flew up and straight into the air again. Then Neville's robe got caught on a statue and tore. Then he got caught on what seemed like an old torch, and then he fell to the ground, shouting in pain. Madam Hooch rushed towards him and shouted, "Everyone, out of the way!" Everyone wondered if he was going to be alright, because he just took about a 15-foot dive from his broom. Unfortunately, his wrist was badly broken. Madam Hooch picked him up and warned us, "Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. Understood? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts faster than you can say _'quidditch'_."

When she was out of sight and earshot, Malfoy picked up Neville's Remembrall and told his fellow Slytherins, "Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd remember to fall on his fat arse." Some Slytherins laughed at his taunt. _Let's see you ride an outta control broom and fall maybe 20 feet and lose something important. Would you be laughin then?_ I thought with the intention of getting it back from him. Harry must have been thinking the same thing, 'cause his voice cut through the bullying laughter. "Give it here, Malfoy." "He hasn't done anything to you, so just stop the jokes and hand it over" I added. "No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. How about on the roof?" Malfoy jeered back. "What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach?" I could tell that Harry had just about enough, and so did Hermione. She stepped in right before he was about to take off, "Harry, no way! You heard what Madam Hooch said. Besides, you don't even know how to fly." Harry ignored and proved her wrong, shooting up after Malfoy. "What an idiot."

I decided to give Harry some backup and took off with Ron and Hermione noticing about two seconds after I took off. "Not her too! What's she doing?!" "Give it here Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry threatened. "Is that so?" Malfoy asked, trying to push his luck even further. Harry zoomed at him and I flew behind them, to gain the element of surprise if he couldn't grab the Remembrall. Harry did something because he turned Malfoy upside down for a bit until Malfoy righted himself back up. "Have it your way then." He got into a position to throw, and I took the chance to knock him in the side, making him drop the ball and catch it myself. Malfoy noticed this and chased after me for a bit. "Harry, heads up!" I yelled and threw it as hard as I could away from Malfoy. It traveled far, but veered to the left, and looked like it was going to hit the ground before he could catch it. But he caught in one hand about 10 feet before it hit the ground. "Great catch!" "Thanks, and nice throw!" We landed back down and showed everyone that the Remembrall was safe and they started cheering for us. We got complements of "Nice sneak attack and throw, Ezra!", "Awesome!", "That was wicked, Harry!" and several others until the unmistakable voice of McGonagall cut through the crowd. "Harry Potter! Ezra Redcreek! Follow me." _Aw jeez! We're gonna get it now. Goodbye Hogwarts, hello train back home._

She led us back to the castle and to a specific classroom, where Professor Quirrel was teaching older kids. "Pardon me Professor Quirrell, but could I borrow Wood for just a moment?" "Oh y-y-yes. O-of course" Quirrell replied. A student, a third or fourth-year by my guess, came out to see what McGonagall wanted. "Potter, Redcreek, this is Oliver Wood, Captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Wood, I have found you a Seeker and an Alternate Chaser" she said with a rare smile on her face.

We told the news to Ron and Hermione, and everyone around Gryffindor tower was abuzz about the news. "Seeker and Chaser? But first-years don't make the House teams. You two have to be…" "The youngest players in a century. McGonagall told us" Harry finished. "Hey Harry, Ezra! Well done, you two! Wood's just told us" Fred said coming from behind the four of us. "George and Fred are on the team too. They're Beaters" Ron explained. "Our job is to make sure that none of the team gets bloodied up too much on the pitch" George elaborated. "But, you can't make too many promises with a game like quidditch. Rough game, it is." "Brutal, but no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally…but they turn up in a month or two!" Fred added and the twins headed straight for their next class. "Come on, you guys! Quidditch is great. Best game ever. And you'll be great too!" Ron said, cheering us on. "Yeah, from what I've heard about quidditch, it almost seems like a way of life for wizardkind. And even though I've never played before, it sounds amazing." I said. "See, Ez gets it!" "But I've never played quidditch before. What if I make a fool of myself?" Harry protested. "You won't make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood" Hermione commented and led us to a trophy case. There in the middle of the stand stood a plaque with names of legendary quidditch players and their positions. One of them said _'James Potter: Seeker"_ etched in a gold border. "Guess you're carryin' on the family tradition, Harry." "Yeah, Harry. You never told me your father was a Seeker, too!" "I…I didn't know" Harry said as awestruck as the rest of us.


	9. Chapter 8

"I'm telling you. She knows about you more than you do" Ron commented while we were heading up the common room. "Well, who doesn't?" Harry mused. Then, out of nowhere, the staircase we were climbing began to unhinge and move. "What happening?" "Don't tell me…" I began. "It's the staircases. They like to change, remember?" Hermione reminded us. "Let's see where this leads to" I suggested, my curiosity getting the better of me. "Yeah, before the staircase moves again" Ron added a little apprehensive. The staircase led us to a room almost pitch-black with a few lit torches on the wall. "Why do I have the feelin' that we shouldn't even be here in the first place?" I asked. "We're not _supposed_ to be here! This is the third floor; it's forbidden!" Hermione whisper-shouted. Suddenly there was a meow and the torch next to us lit up. "It's Filch's cat!" "Run!" Harry said, and we followed his advice until we came up a padlocked door. Maybe we could try to hide there for a while until Filch passed by. But luck wasn't on our side, and the door was locked tight. "We're done for!" Ron cried. "Oh, move over! Alohomora!" Hermione chanted a spelled and the door unlocked by itself, letting us hide for a bit. "Alohomora?" Ron asked half bewildered, half stressed. "Standard Book of Spells chapter 7" Hermione replied in an FYI kind of voice. "Maybe now he thinks that the door's locked" I said. "It was locked" Hermione said. "And for a good reason…" Harry added looking behind us. The rest of us turned around to see a humungous three-headed monster dog, baring its fangs at us. "AAAAAHHHHH!" We all screamed bloody murder and rushed out of the room before it could take a bite of us. It took a group effort of pushing the door closed, but we did it and locked it back up; then we booked it out of the 3rd floor corridor to our common room. "What were they thinking?! Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron nearly shouted. "You didn't use your eyes did you? It was standing on top of a trap door" Hermione shot back. "I was too busy looking at its head, or maybe you didn't notice…there were THREE of them!" Ron argued. "But think about it Ron, other than the fact that it had 3 heads, it was standing on the door as if it were guarding something on the other side" I explained. "Guarding something?" Harry repeated. "That's right. Now if you two don't mind, Ezra and I are going to bed. Before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed…or worse, _expelled_!" Hermione retorted and we went to our dorm, leaving the boys. "She needs to sort out her priorities" Ron commented and Harry nodded. "Like you have any room to talk, Ron!" I shot back and shut the door before he could glare at me.

I woke up the next morning before my roommates, and remembered that I still had some letters to owl. I started with my parents by telling them about how I was liking my classes and a bit of historical facts of Hogwarts for Mom to compare with Ilvermorny. I mentioned how I was making friends in not just Gryffindor, but also some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. I also told them about some of my teachers, like McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher who wants to see the best come out of her students, but also don't tolerate people messing around. I mentioned how I was doing well in her class and in Charms with Prof. Flitwick. I also wrote about our first day in Potions with Snape, and how he seems to have a hankerin' to look down on students that ain't in Slytherin, particularly us Gryffindors. I finished off with telling them how I was picked to be my House's Quidditch teach as their alternate Chaser and with my new friend Harry being the Seeker after a mild version of what happened in Flying class. After Mom and Dad's letter was finished, I thought about my little niche of friends: Hope, Benji, Yasmine, Enrique, and Kassim. I wrote them a general message of that I missed them and can't wait to see them until summer. I told them that school here was on a completely different scale than back home and hoped that middle school wasn't a torture chamber for them. Polaris seemed to be waiting for me to send something, 'cause when I finished my letters and opened his cage, he flew straight to my writing desk and started pecking, HARD, at my knuckles. "Ow, ow, ouch! Alright, alright, I hear ya Pol, sheesh! I shoulda remembered to send these earlier. I'll do better next time." That satisfied him and he gave me an affectionate hoot probably meant, _"That's ok, just don't leave me in that cage for too long next time."_ And with that, he flew out the window and I watched him soar the skies until I couldn't see him anymore. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to catch up on homework until I had to meet up with Harry and Oliver to learn about the rules and regulations of quidditch.

Later that day, around mid-afternoon, Oliver took Harry and I outside near the quidditch field to give us a crash course on the school sport. "Quidditch is an easy enough game to understand" he started. While explaining, Harry was helping him carry a box with the necessary equipment and I carried a few brooms for us to practice with after the explanation. We set everything down and Oliver continued his mini-lesson. "There are 7 players on a team. We have 3 Chasers, Ezra you're our backup in case one of them is sick or gets seriously hurt during a game; 2 Beaters: the Weasley twins, you've met them; 1 Keeper, that's my job; and 1 Seeker, your job Harry. There are three kinds of balls: this big one's called the quaffle. Ezra, when you're playing and practicing with us, this is the ball you pass to the other Chasers and one of you try to throw it through one of those three hoops" he explained and pointed to three hoops on both sides of the field, each a different height. "Oh, ok. So it's kinda like soccer, but in the air." I summarized. "Soccer?" Oliver asked, a bit confused. "It's a No-Maj, or muggle sport in America, and everywhere else you would call it football." I explained and he understood. "What are those?" Harry asked pointing and the smaller black balls that seemed to be growling and moving erratically under their chains. Oliver handed Harry a small bat-like stick and said, "You'd better take this" while unlocking the chains on one of the black balls and it shot up like a cannon. On its return trip down, Harry got ready and swung the bat, careful not to hit us, and sent it far away through a statue that had its arms up like a goal. "Not bad, Potter. You'd make a fair Beater…Uh oh, it's coming back." No sooner than Oliver said this when the ball sped back to us and he caught the ball. But it forcefully knocked him down and Oliver struggled to put it back in its compartment and re-chained the enchanted ball. "What was that?" Harry and I asked. "Bludger. Nasty little buggers. But you…" he said pointing at Harry, "are the Seeker. Now the only thing I want you to worry about is this. The Golden Snitch." He held out a walnut-sized gilded ball and handed it to Harry. "I like this ball" Harry said smiling. "Ah, you do now. Just wait, it's wicked fast and damn near impossible to see." As if to prove his point, the Snitch grew a pair of wings and beat them superfast, like a hummingbird. It zipped and zoomed around our faces and landed back in Harry's hand. "What do I do with it?" Harry asked. "You have to catch it, before the other team's Seeker. You catch this, the game is over. If you catch this Harry, then we win" Oliver finished. Then we got on the broomsticks I brought over and practiced for an hour before it got too dark to see and went back inside for dinner.

The next day was Halloween and we were in Charms class. It was the last class before the day was over. Professor Flitwick stood on top of his stack of books so that everyone could see him. He was teaching us the levitation spell today. "One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, the ability to make objects fly. Now, do you have your feathers?" Everyone held theirs up or pointed to them. "Good, now don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing. The swish and flick. Everyone?" We all performed the movement with him and he added one more piece of advice: "Oh, and enunciate. _Wingardium Leviosa_. Off you go, then." Soon everyone was trying to make their feathers fly, and so far no one succeeded. "Wingardium Leviosar" Ron said before waving his wand around like he was beating his feather with it. "No, stop, stop, stop! You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides you're saying it all wrong. It's 'levi- _oh_ -sa', not 'levi-oh- _sar_ '," Hermione instructed. "You do it, then, if you're so clever. Go on, go on" Ron challenged. "Wingardium leviosa" she enunciated and waved her wand in the correct movement. Her feather rose higher and higher, above everyone else's. "Oh, well done! Look everyone, see here. Ms. Granger's done it! Splendid!" Flitwick congratulated Hermione and Ron looked annoyed that she got it on the first try and showed him up. Seamus kept on trying to levitate his feather, but he said, "Wingard Leviosa." After a couple more attempts, there was an explosion. He was covered in ash and his feather was burnt to a crisp. "I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor," Harry said, staring at the destroyed feather.

I walked out with Ron, Harry, and Seamus after class ended. "It's 'levi- _oh_ -sa', not 'levi-oh- _sar_ '" Ron imitated Hermione, a bit exaggerated. "Honestly, she's a nightmare! No wonder she hasn't got any friends." No sooner he said that when Hermione rushed past the boys with her head down, on the verge of tears. "I think she heard you" Harry commented. "Ron, you jagoff!" I said, smacking him upside the head. "Ow, that hurt! What was that for, Ezra?! And what's a _jagoff_?" "Ya didn't need to bad-mouth Hermione just 'cuz of what happened in class. Think before ya say somethin' stupid!" I shot back and ran after Hermione. "Hermione, wait up!"


	10. Chapter 9

**Harry's POV**

I haven't known Ezra for very long, but it seemed like she cared strongly about Ron making fun of Hermione, and she wasn't at dinner with the rest of us. The last time I saw her was when she was running after Hermione, but it's been hours. I was starting to get a bit worried. "Where's Ezra or Hermione?" I asked Neville. "Parvati Patil said that Hermione wouldn't come out of the girls' bathroom. Said that she had been in there, all afternoon, crying. Ezra went to go try and make her feel better." He said. Ron looked at me and shrugged, and we went back to eating.

The Professor Quirrell suddenly burst through the doors and started yelling, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped running and said, "Thought you ought to know…" before passing out. We all started panicking and made a break for the doors. "SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice rang out, making us stop and look at him. "If everyone would please _not_ panic. Prefects, lead the students to their dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons." We followed Percy and hurried out. "Gryffindors, keep up please, and _stay alert_!" he commanded. I asked Ron, "How could a troll get in?" "Not on their own; trolls are really stupid. Probably people playing jokes." he said, walking back to follow Percy. I took him by the arm to the side before any could notice. "What?" "Hermione and Ezra – they don't know!" I whispered. We ran straight for the girls' bathroom to warn them. We stopped and hid behind a pillar when we saw a humungous shadow and heard a groaning noise. The shadow walked across the hall in front of us. "I think the troll's left the dungeon" Ron commented. I soon realized where it was headed and said, "It's going to the girls' bathroom!" We dashed to the girls' bathroom and saw it swing its club at the cubicles.

 **Ezra's POV**

 _That…little, arrogant prick! Who does he think he is? Mockin' Hermione like that! Ugh!_ I thought on my way to Gryffindor tower to try and find Hermione. I passed by the girls' bathroom when I heard sniffling. I stood in front of the only stall that was locked and knocked. "Hermione, it's me, Ezra." "Leave me alone!" "…Girl, don't pay no mind to what Ron said. I bet he didn't really mean it." That got her to stop crying, but she still wouldn't come out. "How can you be sure?" "Because he looked a little bit guilty before I went lookin' for you. He probably was upset that you showed him up in class. Besides, name one guy that's okay with getting upstaged by a girl in anything." "Ron, guilty?" "I know, it sounds crazy. And if makes ya feel any better, I smacked him upside the head and called him a jagoff for good measure. Bet he learned his lesson then." That got her to laugh and finally come out. "Feel better?" "Yes, thank you Ezra." "No problem. It's what friends do." We were just about to leave, when we heard a loud thud and saw a pair of giant green feet in front of us. Our eyes traveled up to see a mean-lookin' troll staring at us. We rushed to hide in the stall Hermione used to cry in, but the troll swung its club and broke all of the stalls. Hermione and I screamed and ducked our heads to avoid getting hurt.

"Hermione, Ezra, move!" Harry shouted at us. _Don't need to tell us twice!_ We crawled out from under the broken wood and tried to move out to the troll's line of vision so he wouldn't swing his club at us again. While we were moving, Ron and Harry were throwing broken pieces of wood at the troll to distract it. "Hey, peabrain!" Ron taunted as his piece hit the troll squarely on the head. Hermione almost made it when the troll spotted her and broke one of the sinks, almost hitting her. "HELP!" she yelled. I screamed when it set its sights on me and was about to swing down on me, when Harry ran up to the club and hung on for dear life until he landed on the troll's head. It tried to shake him off, but Harry somehow got his wand stuck up its nostril. Then he was held by the ankle and the troll tried to knock him out, but he ducked in time to avoid getting hit. "Do something!" he yelled. "But what?" Ron asked. "Anything! Hurry up!" Harry replied avoiding the club again. Ron took out his wand and Hermione hinted on the levitation wand movement, "Swish and flick!" "Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron chanted and the troll's club suddenly hung in midair. It then fell back down and bonked the troll on its head, dazing it. "Cool." "You did it, Ron!" I cheered. Harry then started to back away because the troll staggered a bit before falling to the floor, unconscious in front of the boys. We all hesitated until Hermione finally spoke up, "Is it…dead?" "No, I think it's just knocked out." Harry replied. Then there was the issue of Harry's wand up its nose, making us all grossed out. "Ugh! Troll bogies." He wiped his wand against his robes as best as he could.

Then Snape, McGonagall, and Quirrell ran into the bathroom, with stunned faces. McGonagall looked pale as she saw the troll. "Oh, my goodness! Explain yourself, both of you!" she said to the boys. Harry and Ron stuttered and couldn't coherently explain, so Hermione stepped in for all of us. "It's my fault, Professor McGonagall." "Miss Granger?" "I went looking for the troll. I read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. Ezra told me that it was a bad idea for me to face it alone. If she, Ron, and Harry hadn't found me…I'd probably be dead" she said, covering for us. "Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do, and I'm very disappointed in you. Five points will be taken from you, for serious lack of judgment" McGonagall scolded. "As for you two," looking at Ron and Harry, "I hope you realized how fortunate you are. Not many first years can take on a mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points…will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." And with that, she turned and left with Snape following and us carefully walking around the troll. Quirrell followed us after saying, "Y-you ought to go; it m-might wake up."

We were dismissed to go back to our common room. As we walked down the hall, Harry decided to cut the tension, "Good of you to get us out of trouble like that." "Mind you, we did save her life, as well as Ezra's," Ron retorted. "Uh, Ron, I am grateful about that, but don't forget, we wouldn't have been in that mess if you hadn't insulted her in the first place" I shot back. "Well what are friends for?" he asked sarcastically, but there was a smile on his and Hermione's faces, indicating that it was all in the past.


	11. Chapter 10

After the whole troll mishap, Ron and Hermione weren't fighting anymore. Thank goodness! The four of us started to get to know each other a little bit better and became good friends. Soon, it was the day of the first Quidditch game of the year. I was excited and slightly antsy at the same time. Harry, on the other hand, was flat-out nervous and barely touched his breakfast. "Take a bit of toast, mate. Go on" Ron urged. "Yeah, it's better to have something in your stomach rather than go on empty" I added, having finished my food in a few minutes. "They're right, Harry. You're going to need your strength today" Hermione said. "I'm not hungry" Harry refused. Then Snape came up to our group and replied, "Good luck today, Potter. Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of quidditch should be easy work for you. Even if it is against Slytherin." He walked away. Harry looked back at Snape, specifically his leg and seemed to notice something interesting. "That explains the blood" he muttered. "Blood?" Hermione whispered. This caught my curiosity and I leaned in to listen, along with Ron. "Last night, I'm guessing that Snape let the troll in to get past the three-headed dog. But, he got himself bitten; that's why he's limping" He explained. "Who in their right mind would even try to get close to that dog?" I wondered. "The day that Hagrid and I went to Gringotts, he took something out of one of the vaults; said it was Hogwarts business. Very secret" Harry told us. "So you're saying…" Hermione began and Harry finished with, "That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants!" Then a single owl hoot interrupted our chat and Harry's owl, Hedwig dropped off long brown package in front of him. "Bit early for mail, isn't it?" "But I never get mail…" "Let's open it and see." Ron suggested. Then the four of us untied the strings holding the paper together and unwrapped it to see what Harry got. We all stared in surprise to see what was in front of us. "It's a broomstick" Harry gasped. "That's not just a broomstick, Harry. It's a Nimbus 2000!" Ron grinned. "It's the fastest model on the market. Wonder who sent it to you." I said.

After breakfast, Harry and I got dressed in our Gryffindor quidditch uniforms and met Oliver in a tent with the rest of the team. "Harry, Ezra! There you are. You two already know our Beaters, George and Fred. Meet our Chasers: Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell. Girls, Ezra Redcreek is our Reserve Chaser." "Hi there!" I said, and they said "Hello" back to me. Then Oliver went over some last-minute strategies before the students and staff took their stand seats. The team lined up and waited for the introductory whistle, signaling us to come out and fly to the field. While waiting, Harry stood next to Oliver and I stood next to Katie. "How do you feel, Ezra? This is your first match, after all." I laughed nervously and said, "I'd be lyin' if I said I was great; I'm tense. I heard that Slytherin plays dirty. But I also feel like we can win this thing." "That's good. From what I've seen at practice, you'll be fine. Just be alert if one of us get hurt and has to be taken off the pitch." The whistle blew and we mounted our brooms and shot up to meet the Slytherin players.

"Hello all, and welcome to the first quidditch match of the season! Today's game is Slytherin vs. Gryffindor!" Lee Jordan spoke into his commentator microphone. All of the players formed a circle about fifteen feet in the air and watched as Madam Hooch stepped onto the field with the familiar chest that held the Quaffle, Bludgers, and the Snitch. "The players take their position as Madam Hooch steps on the field to begin the game" Lee announced. "Now I want a nice, clean game…from all of you" she directed that last part at the Slytherin players. She opened the chest and kicked its side to release the two Bludgers and the Snitch. "The Bludgers are up and the Golden Snitch. Remember, the Snitch is worth 150 points. The Seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game," Lee reminded everyone as the Snitch hovered in front of Harry and the Slytherin Seeker for a few moments before zipping off. Madam Hooch unlocked the Quaffle and threw it straight up in the air. "The Quaffle is released…and the game begins!" Lee shouted. Not a moment sooner, Chaser from both teams lunged for it, and I flew off to the side in order to not get caught up in the chaos. Angelina got the Quaffle and zoomed around the pitch, dodging the Slytherin team. She swerved on her broom to avoid an incoming Bludger and was bumped by one of the Slytherin Chasers who was trying to knock the Quaffle out of her hand. But Angelina held firm and chucked it through the middle goalpost, starting us off with 10 points. "Angelina Johnson scores!" Lee shouted. _Yeah, you go girl!_ Then it was Slytherin's turn to try and score. They weaved in and out of Gryffindor players and their team captain, Marcus Flint caught the Quaffle and kicked Alicia out of the way in order to score. But Oliver saved the goal just in time and blocked Flint's throw with his broom. I could tell that Flint wasn't very pleased while Oliver smirked as to say, " _Nice try."_ Then we had the Quaffle again. Katie and Alicia passed it back and forth between each other, as if they were playing monkey-in-the-middle in order to confuse the other defending Slytherin Chasers. When they came close to the posts, Katie passed it to Alicia who made a u-turn and gave it to Angelina who hurled it through one of the side goals, earning us another 10 points. "Another 10 points to Gryffindor!" Lee shouted.

At this point, Flint was getting annoyed at the score and tried to score again, but Oliver was too quick for him. In a desperate attempt to get back at him, Flint took a bat from one of the Slytherin Beaters and directed a Bludger right at Oliver. It knocked Oliver off his broom to the ground. Now we had no Keeper to guard the goalposts. Slytherin took this chance to score their first goal. _What the heck?! That shoulda at least been a foul, or a call to take Flint off the field!_ It didn't end there. Flint and another Chaser suddenly set their sights on Angelina, flew on both sides of her, and sandwiched her. They made her go off course and collide into the teachers stand, making her drop to the ground. They successfully scored 10 points again, with Oliver not guarding the goalposts. Angelina looked unconscious and she was immediately taken off the field with Wood. _If them Slytherin cheaters think this will make them winners, they dead wrong!_ I shot up and took my place with the rest of the players. I saw two of the Slytherin Chasers trailing after Katie and I flew about 3 feet below her. She looked everywhere for Alicia until she looked down and saw me as I pointed up to the sky to tell her " _Fly upwards."_ She got the message and directly started flying up with the Slytherin Chasers following her. Katie musta gone 30 feet in the air. I saw the last Slytherin Catcher flying close to where Katie would drop the Quaffle. Not a moment to soon, she released it and I shot off. That last Chaser didn't know I would catch it before he did. I grabbed it and dove under him. I heard a broom brake in the air and turned to see one of that Chaser comin' after me. I flew towards the middle goal and the Keeper flew in front of the middle post, but I curveballed the Quaffle into the left-side goal, tricking her and earning a slight lead for Gryffindor. "Gryffindor is back in the lead, 30-20! Katie Bell and Reserve Chaser Ezra Redcreek executed a weird, but successful Porskoff Ploy!" Lee said. "Great work!" Alicia cheered and Katie gave me a high-five.

Suddenly it seemed that the crowd seemed focused on a couple of players and I saw Harry and the Slytherin Seeker flyin' neck and neck. They musta spotted the Snitch. "Go Harry! You got it!" I yelled and Harry started inch closer to the Snitch. Suddenly Flint intentionally flew in front of Harry, blocking him and making his broom veer off course. Fortunately, Madam Hooch called a foul on Flint and gave us a free throw at the goal post. Dean was shouting, "Red card! Take him out!" I flew over to him and said, "Uh Dean, right idea; wrong sport. This ain't a soccer game," and flew back to my position. Katie took the free shot and made it, turning the score 40-20. Madam Hooch called for the game to continue and we did. Meanwhile, Lee was struggling, (not really) to keep his commenting impartial and McGonagall warned him a few times to choose his words wisely. All was going well until Harry's broom started buckin' up and down, like a horse. His own broom went haywire and he almost fell off, dangling with one hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Snape's lips moving, and he was whispering some kind of spell while not breaking eye contact with Harry. _Snape must be jinxing Harry's broom in order to make him fall off! He ain't blinking, so…_ Suddenly, his cloak caught on fire, and his attention was divided, trying to smother it out. Then Harry's broom stopped going crazy and he was able to swing himself back into position and find the Snitch again. Harry and the Slytherin Seeker were at it again until he decided to pull out as they got closer to the ground. Harry was too close to swerve upwards, so he flew straight, following the snitch until he suddenly fell to the ground and tumbled a bit. He stood up, clutched his stomach, and got a look on his face like he was gonna puke. Then the Snitch popped out of his mouth and he caught it with both hands. "He's got the Snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch" Lee finally announced. Madam Hooch blew her referee whistle and declared, "Gryffindor wins!" All of Gryffindor tower cheered and chanted "Go go, Gryffindor!" Our team circled around him, still on our brooms and clapped for him while he held the Snitch in his hand and showed it off for all to see.

When our team retreated back to our tent, I walked over to Oliver and Angelina to see how they were doing while the rest of the team congratulated Harry. They were on stretchers and Oliver looked over at me when he heard me coming and fired off a hundred questions at once. "What happened? The game's over already? What's the score? Who caught the Snitch? What's this about a Porskoff Ploy? I need to know!" I laughed humorlessly and said, "Slow down, cap'n. We won, and Harry got the Snitch. I can tell y'all the details once you 'n Angelina recover." "Oh, that's good, but I'll keep you to it to tell us," Oliver said relieved, and the two of them were led away to the Hospital Wing to have their injuries checked, and I came over to the other side of the tent. The rest of the team left and I went over to Harry and hugged him. "You were amazin' out there, Harry! I reckon there ain't another Seeker who can catch that Snitch like that!" Now, I don't know if I was seein' things, but I coulda sworn that his cheeks turned red just a little bit. Harry, being the modest boy he is, looked down and smiled, before saying, "Thanks Ez. You did a great job out there yourself. We should go meet up with Ron and Hermione. They'd want to commend us as well," he said after a few moments of silence. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

 **Author's Note:** **Please don't be upset at me for not updating for two weeks. I just finished a few essays for college and haven't had time to get back to writing until the weekend. I'm sorry for not saying this earlier, but feel free to leave a review about what you think of the story. Suggestions are appreciated. Also thank you to those that are following, favoriting and/or both with this story. I said it in the summary but…**

 **ALL THINGS HARRY POTTER BELONG TO JK ROWLING! MY ONLY CREATION IS EZRA REDCREEK!**


	12. Chapter 11

Hagrid invited the four of us to his hut after the game. Ron and Hermione told us about how they also noticed Snape jinxing Harry broom during the game, and that Hermione used a spell to set his robes on fire to distract him. But Hagrid didn't seem to agree with our theory. "That's nonsense. Why would Snape curse Harry's broom?" "I don't know. Why was he trying to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween?" Harry wondered. "Who told you lot about Fluffy?" "Fluffy?!" Ron asked, surprised. "That thing has a name?!" Hermione exclaimed. "Hagrid, how the heck does a name like _Fluffy_ fit a dog like that? You actin' like it's is yours." I finished. "Well, o' course he's got a name. And yes Ezra, he's my dog. Bought 'im off an Irish fellow in the pub las' year. And, I lent him to Dumbledore so he can guard the, uh…" Hagrid trailed off. "Yes…?" Harry urged on. "I shouldn't have said that. No more questions. That's top secret, that is" Hagrid muttered. "But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape must be trying to steal it." "Codswallop. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher," replied Hagrid. "Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one. I've read all about them and you have to keep eye contact" Hermione debated. "Yeah, from what I saw, not only did Snape not pause when he was chanting the spell, but he also didn't blink or lose focus on Harry until the fire distracted him" I remembered. "Exactly." "Now you listen to me, all four o' yeh. You kids are meddling in things you ough' not to meddle in. Whatever that dog's guarding is between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel" Hagrid insisted. "Nicholas Flamel?" we repeated. That sent Hagrid away saying over and over, "I should NOT have said that!" Now the mystery was becoming more interestin' by the second. None of us had a clue who Nicholas Flamel is. What could Fluffy be guarding that's on the other side of the third floor trapdoor?

Weeks passed on and Christmas break was comin' up. I saw almost everyone talking to each other about their holiday plans. I was in our dorm room folding clothes that I would take on the trip back home. While I was packing, there was a familiar owl screech, and I saw Polaris flying to the window with an envelope in his beak. I opened the window and held out my arm to let him perch. "Hey buddy. Didja miss me?" He hooted and softly pecked at my ear to show that he was happy to see me. I took the envelope out of his beak and fed him a few pellets. The envelope was a reply letter from my parents. I opened it immediately and tried to make out the slanted, unusual scrawl that was Dad's handwriting. For some reason, he always wrote his words in uppercase letters, but small enough to distinguish a regular tone of speaking.

 _Dear Ezra,_

 _Thanks for the letter, kid. It made your ma very happy to hear from you and she says thanks for the information about Hogwarts. Glad to know that you're making friends at your new school. You seem to have a close group of kids that you hang out with a lot, based on your message. Hopefully, the rest of the Super Six_ (my friends back home in America) _won't get jealous._

 _Anyways, we got a notice of your sorting and were surprised at the result. The Hat really took 15 minutes to place you in Gryffindor? I thought it would've placed you in Ravenclaw, because of how smart you are in school. Well, it is what it is. So is Transfiguration your favorite class? 'Cause you seemed to talk an awful lot about your teacher and how she is strict, but fair and wants to see her students succeed. Bet your ma could be good friends with her. And what's this about your Potions teacher? You can't dwell too much on what happened that first day. I'll admit that what he did was a bit biased, but hopefully you didn't talk back to him and lose points for your House._

 _Also, congrats on making the quidditch team! You and Harry did the right thing standing up for that Neville kid. Seems like this "Draco Malfoy" punk won't be kept at bay for long. But that doesn't matter. You have to tell me about this sport and how your game went. Try inviting your friends over for summer once school is out. We love you and can't wait to see you for Christmas, Chief._

 _Love,_

 _Dad_

That ending made me smile. He and Mom used to call me "Chief" when I was younger because I was sort of the leader of the Super Six. After reading the letter, I finished packing and walked over to Polaris where he landed on my desk. He flew over to my arm again and nudged my face softly. "Have a good migration, Pol!" I said and he hooted back before taking off again in a different direction.

When I was walking down the stairs with my suitcase, I met up with Hermione and we talked about our vacation plans. When we arrived at the Great Hall, I noticed Ron and Harry sitting at one of the tables with a board game with other people at far end of the Hall talking to each other. I realized that they weren't goin' nowhere and stayin' at the castle. I felt kinda bad for Harry, knowing that he had no place to go for the winter holidays, and slightly wished that my parents suddenly had a change of plans, to keep him company. But what I didn't understand was why the Weasleys didn't pack anything. Hermione and I walked over to the boys and saw that they were playing chess; only in wizard's chess, you tell the pieces where to go and they come alive and move to the spot you want, based on your directions. Sometimes, they give you hints on who to move if you were having trouble.

"Knight to E-5" Harry said and his white knight figurine moved a couple spots forward. Ron saw a perfect opportunity to take out the knight and responded smugly, "Queen to E-5." The red queen figurine moved to the knight's square and took the chair she was sitting on and swung it at the knight, breaking the piece in two. "Cheap shot, Ron" I muttered and Hermione was appalled at the gameplay. "That's totally barbaric!" "That's wizard's chess. I see you two have packed," Ron replied. "See you haven't" Hermione shot back. "Change of plans; my parents have decided to visit my brother Charlie in Romania. He studying dragons over there" Ron answered. "Well, since the both of y'all are staying here, you can help Harry find out some info about this Nicholas Flamel guy. I reckon the library's still open over break" I suggested. "But we've looked a hundred times!" Ron complained. "Not in the Restricted Section…Happy Christmas" Hermione stated lowly so nobody could overhear her; and with that the two of us left they boys to contemplate her hint.


	13. Chapter 12

Winter break had come and gone faster than I expected, but it was great to see my parents and old friends again for the holidays. I told my dad all about Quidditch and it took some long explaining, but he eventually got the gist of the sport. However, I had to hide all of my school books that I brought home, my wand, and Polaris' cage every time my friends came over. In between visits, I got presents from Harry and Ron, delivered by the Hogwarts owls. Hermione and I gave each other our gifts on the train ride back home. Before I left with her, I told Harry and Ron in a letter that their presents from me were under the tree in the common room. I chose to wait and open their gifts with all the others my parents gave me. Harry sent me a couple of Cauldron Cakes, because those were my favorite sweets from the train; and I got him a sweater that said "#1 Seeker". Ron gave me a few posters of international Quidditch teams that I can hang up in my room and a blue Weasley sweater his mom made with an 'E' on the front; I gave him a Chocolate Frog card that had Ptolemy on it. He told me those are one of the rarer ones and he didn't have one. Hermione's gift to me was a red and gold bracelet with charms like a lion, star, quill, and one that looked like a tiny hourglass with two circles around it. I got her a book on flying to assuage her fears with Flying class.

Back at Hogwarts, the four of us were in the Great Hall during Study Hall preparing for final exams. Ron wasn't doing much studying. Instead, he was reorganizing his Chocolate Frog cards. Then Hedwig flew over to Harry and nipped his finger affectionately, "Hi Hedwig." "Look at you! Playing with your cards, pathetic. We've got final exams coming up," Hermione criticized Ron. "I'm ready. Ask me any question," Ron said confidently. "Alright, what are the three most crucial ingredients in a Forgetfulness Potion?" "I forgot…" "It's 2 drops of Lethe river water, 4 mistletoe berries, and 2 Valerian sprigs," I reminded him without looking up from my Transfiguration notes. He looked at me like was Hermione's clone or somethin'. "How do you remember something like that?" "Because I remember almost messin' up that potion up in class. I almost put in 3 drops of Lethe water until Snape yelled somethin' at Neville. I swear he woulda knocked off maybe 10 points if he came over to me."

"And what, may I ask, do you plan to do if this comes up on the final exam?" Hermione asked. "Copy off you" Ron answered quickly. "No you won't!" she shot down. Ron thought that next best thing was to cheat off of either Harry or me, "Hey Ezra, you're good at Potions and Transfigurations. Maybe…" "Don' even think about it, wise guy" I rejected before he could finish. "Copying off your other two best friends won't cut it, either. 'Cause they're gonna give us quills charmed with an Anti-Cheating spell. At least, that's what McGonagall said." "That's insulting! It's as if they don't trust us! Dumbledore again!" Ron cried both shocked at our refusal to help him and disappointed at the card he received.

Then we heard someone coming as if their shoelaces were tied together so they couldn't walk. Turns out that Neville had been jumping up and down to move and could barely keep his balance. "Leg-Locking curse?" Ron asked. "Malfoy," Harry answered as Neville hopped over to us. "You've got to start standing up to people, Neville." "How? I can barely stand at all" Neville complained trying his hardest not to fall. "I know the countercurse!" Seamus piped up and got his wand ready. Now, we all knew that spells and Seamus were a bad combination. "No that's all I need. For you to set my bloody kneecaps on fire," Neville said. Seamus was offended, to say the least. "I don't appreciate the insinuation, Longbottom! Besides, if anyone cares to notices, my eyebrows have completely grown back!" He turned away and gave us a full view of a bald spot on the back of his head. I wanted to say something, but Hermione pulled me down and shook her head.

"I found him!" Harry shouted, pointing to Dumbledore's card. There was a short description of him on the back that I hadn't noticed. "Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945…" "Go on." "…for his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work in alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel!" With that, we all rushed to the library because Hermione had something to show us.

"I had you checking in the wrong section. How could I have been so stupid?" she huffed and slammed a thick book in front of us. "I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." " _This_ is light?" Ron asked. "If that's light in Hermione-speak, I'm scared to know what heavy is," I mused. She glared at us before flipping pages until coming to a specific section of the book. "Here it is! Nicholas Flamel is the only know maker of the Sorcerer's Stone." "The what?!" the boys asked totally confused. "Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione sighed. "It's the main component of advanced alchemy techniques and the key to an alchemist's life force." I explained and Hermione nodded while continuing to read. "The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It can transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal." "Immortal?" Ron wondered. "Meanin' you'll never die" I added. "I know what it means!" Ron shot back and had to be shushed by Harry. "The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the famed alchemist, who last year, celebrated his 665th birthday" Hermione finished reading. " _That's_ what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor; that's what's under the trap door. The Sorcerer's Stone!"

That night, we all borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak. We snuck to Hagrid's and knocked his door. Hagrid opened up and said, "Oh, hello. Sorry, but, I'm not in the mood to entertain tonight." Right before he closed the door, we all said, "We know about the Sorcerer's Stone!" That seemed to get Hagrid's attention, and he quickly ushered us inside. "We think Snape's going to try and steal it" Harry stated. "Snape? Blimey, you lot aren't still on about that, are yeh? Look, Professor Snape is one of the teachers _protecting_ the stone. He's not one to steal it," Hagrid pressed on. "Hagrid, hol' up and back up. He's one of the teachers protecting it?" I repeated, with his words resonating with me. "That's right. Complete waste o' time, if yeh ask me. No one's able to get past Fluffy, and nobody knows how, 'cept fer me 'n Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that" Hagrid chastised himself.

Then a cling-clang sound came from Hagrid's fireplace and he put on oven mitts and took out some sort of greenish-black stone from the coal pieces. "Hagrid, what exactly is that?" Harry wondered. "I know what that is! It's a dragon egg! Hagrid, wherever did you get one?" Ron replied. "I won it off a stranger I met in the pub. He seemed quite happy to be rid o' it, teh be honest," Hagrid said.

Then the egg started to move and crack. After about a minute, a small reptilian creature hatched, sending eggshell pieces everywhere. I had to duck in order not to get hit. When I got back up, I looked with Harry, Hermione, and Ron to see it. "It's a Norwegian Ridgeback. My brother Charlie works with these in Romania," Ron explained. "Ain't he beautiful? Aw, bless him. He knows his mummy. Hello Norbert" Hagrid cooed and petted the baby dragon. "Norbert?" Harry asked. "Well he's gotta have a name, don't he? He'll have to be trained up a bit," Hagrid stated after the dragon sneezed and set his beard on fire. Once the fire was out, Hagrid looked out one of the windows and asked, "Who's that?" Seems like the spy didn't want to be found out, 'cause we turned our heads and briefly saw a platinum-blonde head of hair run away. "Dangit! Malfoy saw us!" I huffed in frustration. "Oh dear…" Hagrid mused.


	14. Chapter 13

We left Hagrid's and dashed back to the castle. "Hagrid's always wanted a dragon. He told me the first time we met" Harry mused. "Well, he's got one now. And worse, Malfoy knows" Ron said. "I don't understand. It that a bad thing?" Hermione wondered. "Oh, it's bad. And now that Malfoy snitched on us, things are gon' get a whole lot worse" I said looking straight ahead at the head of our House. Ron, Harry, and Hermione followed my gaze and we all immediately paled a little. "Good evening," McGonagall replied and Malfoy appeared from behind her.

"Nothing, I repeat nothing, gives a student the right to walk around the school at night. Therefore, as punishment, fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor." _That much?!_ Apparently Harry was amazed like me. "Fifty?!" " _Each_ " McGonagall elaborated. That got my eyes to wided a bit and I was willing to protest, "Professor, you…" "I assure you I can and I will gladly take away more if you argue, Miss Redcreek." I kept my mouth shut for the rest of her disciplining. _Woo boy, 200 points deducted! The rest of our House is gonna hate us for sure when they hear about this, 'cause there ain't no way we can make it up now that we're in last place!_

She then turned her gaze to the five of us and said, "And to ensure that it doesn't happen again, all five of you will receive detention." Malfoy was wearing a smirk on his face until he heard that. "Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong; I think you said the five of us." "Oh no, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. You see, as honorable your intentions were, you were also out of bed after hours. You will join your classmates in detention," McGonagall replied. That made the four of us feel a smidge better to know that Malfoy wasn't getting off scot-free.

The next day, we received dirty stares from our housemates. To say that they were royally mad at us was the understatement of the week. At quidditch practice, our teammates just referred to Harry as "the seeker" and called me "tagalong chaser," and I felt embarrassed for our major point loss that we caused. The icing on the cake, _insert sarcasm here_ , was that we had to fulfill our detention tonight.

Filch led us outside the school towards Hagrid's house. "A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging in the dungeons by your thumbs. God I miss the screaming." He stepped out of nostalgia for a moment and added, "You'll be serving your detention tonight with Hagrid. He's got a little job…in the Dark Forest." _At least Hagrid's with us, so maybe it won' be so bad._ We met Hagrid and it looked like he'd been crying. He held his crossbow under his arm, but looked away and sniffled, as if trying to act like nothing was wrong. "Good god, man, you're not still going on with bloody dragon, are you?" Filch asked. "Norbert's gone; Dumbledore sent 'im away teh Romania, to live in a colony," Hagrid said. "But that's good isn't it? He'll be with his own kind," Hermione tried to turn the situation around. "Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby after all!" Hagrid protested. "Oh for God's sake, pull yourself together, man. You're going into the Forest after all." "The forest? I thought that was joke!" Malfoy cried. "We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are…werewolves." He said that last bit and started to go pale as a wolf howled in the distances. "There more than werewolves in there. You can be sure of that…Nighty-night." Filch finished and left us for Hagrid to take care of.

We followed Hagrid into the forest, which, I ain't gonna lie, creeped me out a bit since it was almost pitch black in there. Then we came to a clearing where Hagrid kneeled down and dipped his finger in what looked to me like liquid silver. "Hagrid, what exactly is that?" Harry asked. "What we're here for. That's unicorn blood, that is" Hagrid explained holding up two fingers covered in the thick, silver liquid. "I found one a few weeks ago, dead. This one's been wounded by something awful. So, it's our job to find out what's been hurting the poor thing. Hermione, you and Ron come with me. Harry, you go with Malfoy and Ezra." "Okay, then I get Fang." Malfoy bargained. "Fine, but just so you know, he's a bloody coward" Hagrid warned. Malfoy didn't look so confident when Hagrid said that.

Our two teams went separate ways for a while. "Just wait 'til my father hears about this. We're doing servant stuff!" Malfoy groaned. He was holding the lantern between himself and Harry. I walked a couple of feet behind them with Fang trotting beside me. "If I didn't know any better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," Harry jeered. "I'm not scared, Potter" Malfoy shot back, but I could hear the slight apprehension in his voice. "Well you wouldn't be out here, pretendin' not to be a chicken if ya hadn't snitched on us, Malfoy" I retorted. "I don't believe I was talking to _you_ , Redcreek. What was that?" he turned to me until a nearby owl flew by and hooted. That made him flinch a bit, but he kept walking as if nothing happened. "Come on, Fang" Harry called to the boarhound.

We went about 20 more feet when we heard an animalistic growling and saw a hooded figure hunched over the fallen unicorn with its blood gushing from large wound. The figure paused in its feeding to look in our direction. Malfoy screamed bloody murder and ran with Fang, leaving Harry and I to fend for ourselves. The figure advanced closer and closer, getting a bit faster with every step. We backtracked, while I was fumbling for my wand. I finally whipped it out after five agonizing seconds of terror and chanted, "Protego!" The shield seemed to hold him back for a little while, but it wasn't strong enough to last. Harry tripped on a tree root and was backing away as best as he could. It seemed like it would be over for us soon.

Then we heard galloping of horse hooves and a centaur came from out of nowhere and the figure ran off, scared. As the centaur stood its ground, he turned towards us. I helped Harry to get up. This centaur had short, curly hair and a goatee. "Harry Potter, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here, and the forest isn't safe this time of night, especially for you. You are fortunate that your friend protected you, even for a brief moment." "What was that thing you just saved us from, sir?" I asked. "It was a monstrous creature," the centaur explained. "'Tis a terrible thing to slay a unicorn. Drinking its blood will keep you alive, even if you are an inch away from death…but at a terrible price. For you've slain something so pure, that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life." "But who would choose such a life? If they know the consequence, then why go through with it?" Harry pondered. "Can you think of no one?" the centaur hinted. It was soon clear to Harry. "So you're saying that…that monster that killed the unicorn for its blood, it was Voldemort?" "Do either of you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?" the centaur asked us leaning closer. "The Sorcerer's Stone!" we whispered.

Just then, Hagrid came in with Hermione, Ron, Malfoy, and Fang. "'Ello there, Firenze. I see you have met our young Mr. Potter and Miss Redcreek." Firenze nodded and turned to us, "Mr. Potter and Miss Redcreek, this is where I leave the two of you. You are safe for now, especially you, boy. Good luck." With that, he galloped off into the forest.

Afterwards, our detention was officially over and we returned back to the common room. Harry told Ron and Hermione about our near-encounter with Voldemort. "Are you telling me that You-Know-Who is out there in the forest?" she asked, with a bit of panic in her voice. "That's exactly what Harry's sayin', and I didn't want to believe that it was him in the first place," I answered, still a bit shaken by what happened. Harry cut in with, "But he's weak. He has to live off of unicorn blood. Don't you get it? We had it all wrong. Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself. He wants it for Voldemort, and with the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll…he'll come back." "But if he does come back, you don't really think that…he'll try to…kill you, do you?" Ron asked, worried. "If he had the chance, he might've tried to kill all of us tonight. If Ez hadn't put up that shield spell and Firenze stepped in…" Harry replied looking at the fire. "And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final," Ron paled. But then Hermione had a brilliant thought, "Hang on a minute. We're forgetting one thing. Harry, who's the one wizard Voldemort fears the most? Dumbledore." "That makes a lot of sense, Hermione. With Dumbledore around, Harry's protected. As long as Dumbledore's here…Voldemort can't hurt you," I realized and looked at Harry.


	15. Chapter 14

The next week was test after test. I could barely concentrate, because of our theory over the Stone. But I somehow made it through them. The only classes that I had trouble with were History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Finally, the week was over and everyone could take a much needed sigh of relief. "I've always heard that Hogwarts end-of-the-year exams were frightful, but I found them rather enjoyable" Hermione commented. Harry wasn't paying much attention to her, rather his forehead. Specifically, his scar. "Harry, is your scar botherin' you again?" I asked. He inhaled sharply and muttered, "It's more than bothering me. It keeps on burning." "Well, it's happened before," Hermione mused. "Maybe you should see the nurse," Ron suggested. "I think it's a warning. It means danger's coming," Harry replied.

We heard music playing and saw Hagrid playing a wooden flute. Harry started rushing over to his house and muttered, "Of course." "Of course what?" I said. "Don't you think it's a bit odd, that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger shows up and just happens to have one? Think about it, how many people wander around with dragon eggs inside their pockets? Why didn't I think about it before?"

"Um, Hagrid, do you know who gave you that dragon egg? What did they look like?" I asked him. Hagrid stopped playing when he saw us. "No, can't say that I do. I never saw his face, he kept his hood up." "This stranger, you and he must've talked," Harry continued. "Well, he wanted to know what kind o' creatures I looked after. I said 'After Fluffy, a dragon's gotta be no problem'," Hagrid replied. "Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked. "Well o' course he was interested. How often do ya come across a three-headed dog? Even if you're in the trade? I said, 'The trick with any beast is to get'em to calm down. Take Fluffy for example. Just play 'im a bit of music and he'll fall straight to sleep'," Hagrid explained, but then realized he said too much, again. We all had the same frantic look and dashed back to the castle. It took a couple of minutes, but we felt like we had run a mile when we reach McGonagall's office. She saw us bust the door. "We have to see Professor Dumbledore. Immediately," Harry urged. "I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore isn't here. He received an urgent call from the Ministry of Magic and immediately left for London," McGonagall explained. "But Professor, this is urgent. We know about the Sorcerer's Stone! Somebody's going to try and take it!" I insisted. McGonagall's face held a good amount of shock. "I don't know how the four of you know about the Stone, but I can assure you that it is perfectly well guarded. Now, return to your dormitories, quietly."

We left her office, but just stopped outside the door. "Now what?" I groaned. "That was no stranger Hagrid met that night. It was Snape, and that means he knows how to get past Fluffy" Harry said. "And with Dumbledore gone…" Hermione started. However, Snape cut us off with a sudden, "Good afternoon. Now, what would four youngsters such as yourselves be in doing inside? On a day like this?" "Well, Professor… we, um…we were just…" Hermione stammered. "Better be careful. People would think that you were… _up to something_ ," Snape walked off afterwards. Once he was out of hearing range, Harry stated, "Let's go down to the trapdoor. Tonight."

We had to wait until everyone in Gryffindor Tower was fast asleep that night. The plan was to sneak back up to the 3rd floor, somehow get past Fluffy, and prevent Snape from stealing the Stone. We walked down the stairs in our casual clothes once it was quiet and no one would hear us. Harry quickly grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and we met up in the common room. We almost made it out when there was a faint croaking sound. Ron spied Trevor resting on the arm of a chair. "Trevor, shush! You shouldn't be here!" "Neither should you," a voice came from behind the chair. Neville appeared in his pajamas and stood in front of us. "Have...have you been sitting there, waiting for us to show up, Neville?" I asked, a bit worried that he would wake up one of the prefects and tell on us. He answered me with a question of his own, "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?" "No, Neville, please listen. We just-" Harry tried, but Neville wasn't having any of it. "No! You'll all get Gryffindor in trouble again. I-I…I'll fight you," he said, putting his hands up in a boxing stance. "Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this. Petrificus Totalus," Hermione said. In no time, his body went stiff as board and he fell flat on his back. "You're a little scary sometimes, you know that? Brilliant…but scary," Ron commented. We walked by Neville and said sorry to him as we headed for the 3rd floor.

We made it so far without any problems walking under Harry's cloak. Hermione quietly chanted "Alohomora," just like the first time, and the door unlocked easily. We prepared ourselves for the vicious monster, but instead found it snoring, and it blew the cloak off of us. "Wait a minute, he's sleeping," Harry observed. I heard soft, calming music and saw a giant harp next to the dog. "That's why. Snape enchanted the harp to get Fluffy to fall asleep" I mused. "Ugh, it's got horrible breath!" Ron complained, and I had to agree with him. "We have to move its paw" Harry directed. "What?!" Ron and I cried. "Come on." It took a group effort, but we moved it and opened the trapdoor to see if anything was down there. "I'll go first. Wait for my signal, and if anything bad happens, get yourselves _out_ …Does it seem quite to you?" Harry asked. "The harp, it stopped playing," Hermione noticed. "Ugh! Yuck!" Ron groaned as there was a large drop of saliva that rolled down his shoulder. I felt a huge warm breath of air on the back of my neck. We looked up and saw that Fluffy was wide awake, flashing his sharp teeth at us. "That can't be good…" I paled. "Jump! Now!" Harry commanded. He went first, then Hermione followed him two seconds later with Ron screaming on the way down and I came in last with Fluffy missing me by an inch.


	16. Chapter 15

We landed on a huge plant that had a multitude of vines. "Whoa, really lucky this plant thing is here" Ron breathed. Not two seconds after he said that, one of the vines moved and Harry let out a surprised "Whoa!" before more vines wrapped around him. Soon we were all trapped and struggling to free ourselves. "All of you stop moving! This is Devil's Snare. The trick is to relax, because if you don't it will only kill you faster," Hermione warned. "Kill us faster? Oh, _now_ I can relax!" Ron shot back with sarcasm. Hermione took a deep breath and stopped squirming, and the plant loosened its vines around her and let her sink to the floor. "Hermione!" the rest of called. "Now what are we going to do?" Ron freaked. "Hermione, where are you?" Harry called. "Down here, just trust me and relax!" Hermione yelled back. "If you say so..." I calmed down a bit and felt the plant let go of me a little, but it was still kinda tight. I saw Harry being released by the snare and I slowed down my breathing and I was freed right after. "Harry! Ezra!" Ron screamed. The two of us dropped down to Hermione's level. "Are you two okay?" "We are, but Ron's havin' a bit of trouble. He's still up there!" I said. Ron was flat out terrified and the snare started wrapping around his mouth and neck. "He's not relaxing, is he?" "Apparently not." "We've got to do something!" I cried "But what?" Harry asked. "I think Professor Sprout taught us a trick in Herbology…'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare. It's deadly fun…but will sulk in the sun'!" Hermione remembered. "I get it now; it can't stand sunlight! But what's the spell for it?" I asked, half wondering, half flustered. "Leave it to me! Lumos Solem!" she chanted and her wand shot out a blinding light at the snare. It roared in pain and immediately let Ron go. "Whew! Lucky we didn't panic" Ron said, trying to save face. "This is comin' from the kid who was screamin' like a little girl not ten seconds ago" I muttered, and got a glare from Ron. "Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology" Harry pressed. Then we heard a sound that was sort of like the wind whistling and flapping.

We walked down a hallway and came to another room. "Strange things. I've never seen birds like those before" Hermione mused. "They're not birds, they're keys. And I bet one of them fits that door" Harry corrected her and saw a broomstick right in front of us. The keys still flew over our heads as if we weren't there. Ron trying jiggling the door handle and chanted "Alohomora!" hoping Hermione's trick from earlier would work. Unfortunately, this door was charmed not to take that spell. "Ugh! What will we do? There must be a thousand keys up there!" "We're looking for a big, old fashioned key that will fit the door" Ron suggested. "Yeah, maybe one that's all rusty and bronze, just like the handle" I added. "There! I see it, the one with the broken wing," Harry pointed out. He then put two and two together and looked disappointed. "Somethin' wrong, Harry?" I asked. "It's almost too easy…" Harry told us. "Oh, come on Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, then you can too! You're the youngest seeker in a century!" Ron urged. Harry reached out for the broom. When he touched the handle, all of the keys started swarming around him. He used one hand to steer and the other to swat them away while trying to catch the correct key. "This complicates things a bit" Ron cringed. "Yeah, no kiddin'" I said. "Catch the key!" After zooming all around, Harry finally snagged the old key and tossed it down to Hermione so she could unlock the door. It took a while, but she finally got the door opened and Harry zipped past the door and we shut it behind him so the attacking keys wouldn't follow, and they smashed up against the door.

We trekked further and further down another corridor hallway until we saw a group of broken statues everywhere. "Where are we?" Harry wondered. "It kinda looks like a graveyard, with all the statues" I said. But Ron knew, because he said, "This isn't a graveyard. This is a chessboard." _Chessboard?_ I got my answer when torches lit up to room so we could see, and I looked down at the floor and saw the tiles were large alternating black and white squares. "There's the door!" Harry stated and we were on our way when the white statues pulled out their swords and blocked our way. We backed up a little and they put their swords back. "Looks like we'll have to play in order to keep going. Harry you take the empty bishop's square. Hermione, go to the queen's side castle. Ezra take the vacant rook spot. As for me…I'll be a knight" Ron directed. Ron was our resident wizard's chess expert, so we immediately took our spots and hoped he knew what he was doing.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked. "White always moves first, and then, we play," Ron explained. "Um, Ron? You don't suppose that this is going to be like…real wizard's chess…do you?" she asked with a bit of fear in her voice. Ron hesitated and pointed to one our pawns, "You there, D5!" It moved to the spot Ron wanted, only to be slashed to pieces by the first white pawn. "Yes, Hermione. I do think this is exactly going to be like wizard's chess," he paled. Our battle with the white side lasted for what seemed like an eternity. White chess pieces were hacking our pieces left and right, but we also managed to get rid of a good amount of their soldiers. Ron tried to move us as little as possible so we would get hurt, but we occasionally got scratched here and there. Then the white queen took one our castles and turned to the side to indicate that it was our turn. During the game, Ron had to move me a couple of times, and I found myself inching closer and closer to one of the white knights still in play. Harry had played against Ron a few times and suddenly realized what his next move was going to be. "Wait a minute…" Ron confirmed Harry's fear and said, "You understand, right Harry? Once I make my move, the queen will take me, and then you're free to check the king." "No, Ron! No!" "What's wrong?" Hermione asked. "Ron's gonna sacrifice himself to the queen so we can win" I replied. "No you can't! There has to be another way!" Hermione cried. "There may be. The queen won't have to take Ron if he moves me and that knight up there can take me out," I said. "Are you crazy?!" Harry, Hermione, and Ron shouted at me. "Lookit how close the queen is to our side and where I am! The queen won't be focused on Ron, and then Harry can safely call checkmate!" "Then where would that leave the rest of us?! Do you want Snape to get the Stone or not?" Ron yelled at me and then calmly said, "It's good diversionary tactic, but we need to be faster than Snape to save the Stone." Then he turned to Harry and said, "Harry, you have to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, not Ezra, _you_!" He readied himself, and said, "Knight to H3…Check." The queen ominously moved towards Ron and then paused. A split-second later, she swung her sword and smashed the knight piece, sending Ron falling down hard on the floor. "Ron!" we all shouted and Hermione started to move in order to see if he was okay. "No, don't move! Don't forget; we're still playing," Harry told her and she remained on her square. Harry tentatively stepped up in front of the white king and said, "Checkmate!" As if Harry said the magic word, the king's sword fell down, indicating that we won. We all rushed to Ron's side. I put two fingers to his neck and felt his pulse. "He'll live, but that queen sure knocked him down, hard" I announced. "Take Ron to the Hospital Wing, and send an owl to Dumbledore. Ron's right, I have to go on" Harry said. "Not alone, you ain't" I protested. "But, Ezra-" Hermione started. "He's gonna need back-up if Snape or Voldemort are waiting." She relented and said, "You'll be both okay. You're a great wizard, Harry. Ezra, you're an outstanding witch." "Not as good as you, Hermione" Harry admitted. "Yeah, girl. You're the smartest kid in our year." I added. "Me? Books and cleverness?" she scoffed. "There are more important things. Friendship, loyalty…bravery." She directed that last part at Harry. "Just be careful, you two." "We will," I pledged. We hugged each other and she saw Harry and I walk off to the other door. As soon as it was just us two, Harry asked me, "Are you ready for what's ahead?" "Ready and waitin'," I said. We reached the end of the hall to a long staircase leading downwards.


	17. Chapter 16

When we arrived at the end of the staircase, Professor Quirrell was right in front of us. He was standing right in front of a mirror that seemed familiar to Harry, because he let out a quiet gasp when he saw it. It never crossed our minds that Quirrell was the villain.

"You!" Harry spoke, and Quirrell turned around. "No, it can't be…Snape…he was…" "Yes, he does seem the type, doesn't he? Next to him, who would suspect _p-p-p-poor, s-stuttering, Professor Quirrell?_ " the man replied. "But then, the first Quidditch game, I saw it. Snape was trying to kill Harry," I argued, but Quirrell had more evidence to share with us, "No, no little girl. _I_ tried to kill him! And trust me, I would've succeeded in doing so if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and distracted me. Even with Snape muttering his little _counter curse_." "So in the end…Snape was trying to save Harry?" I asked, thinking out loud. "I knew the boy was a danger to me, right from the start. Especially after Halloween!" he said. "Then – then _you_ let the troll in!" Harry stated. "Very good, Potter, yes," Quirrell praised. "Severus, unfortunately wasn't fooled. While everyone was running about in the dungeons, he went to the third flood and headed me off. He, of course never trusted me again, and barely left me alone. But the one thing he doesn't understand…is that I'm never alone." He turned to the mirror. "Now, I see myself holding the stone. But what exactly does this mirror do? How do I get it?" A hissing voice came from out of nowhere and said, _"Use the boy."_

"Come here, Potter! Now!" Quirrell yelled. Harry slowly made his way to him. "Now tell me, what do you see?" Harry gazed into the mirror for a minute. I looked to see if I could see anything, and I did, only it wasn't just my reflection. I saw Harry showing me a dark red rock with ridges all over, in his hand and telling me to keep it a secret, with me nodding in return. _That must be the Stone!_ Harry musta seen something else because Quirrell asked, "Well? What is it? What do you see?" "I…I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the House Cup for Gryffindor" Harry replied.

" _He lies. The girl knows where it is,"_ the hissing voice said. "Tell the truth! What do you see?" Quirrell demanded. Then he turned to me and pointed his wand. "CRUCIO!" he shouted out the spell, and the next two seconds happened so fast. It felt like a thousand knives were jabbing at me, and my insides felt like they were on fire. I screamed because I was in so much pain. "EZRA!" Harry yelled my name and switched his gaze over to him. "Tell me now or your friend over there dies!" Quirrel threatened. _"Let me speak to him,"_ said the invisible voice. "But Master, you're not strong enough," Quirrell said, his voice shaking a bit. _"I have strength enough for this."_ Harry backed up while Quirrell unwrapped his turban. My heart picked up speed as our former teacher unraveled his headwear and removed the cloth to show a snake-like face protruding from the back of his head. "Harry Potter. We meet again."

"Voldemort…" Harry almost whispered in fear. "Yes. You see what I've become? See what I must do? I have to live off another: a mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but I can't have my own body. However, there is something that can. Something that conveniently enough, lies in your pocket…" "Harry get outta here while you have a chance! GO!" I yelled, finding some strength to get back up. Harry took my advice and grabbed my and hand. But we weren't fast enough. "Stop them!" Voldemort commanded and Quirrell snapped his fingers. A ring of fire surrounded all of us, making it impossible for us to escape. Quirrell shot the same spell at us, but I took it for Harry and felt another wave of unbearable pain. I chose not to scream this time, even though it felt like I was literally being ripped apart in half. "Stop! Leave her alone!" Harry shouted.

"Don't be a fool. Why suffer a horrific death and watch your friend writhe in agony, when you can join me and the both of you can live?" Voldemort cautioned. "Never!" Harry refused. That made the Dark Lord laugh. "Bravery…your parents had it, too. Tell me Harry, would you like to see your mother and father again?" "That's impossible," I said weakly. Quirrell hit me again with that spell, making me scream. Harry rushed to my side. "Oh, I assure you, girl. It _is_ possible, if your friend gives me what I so desperately need. Harry, we can bring them back, and together, we can do extraordinary things. Just give me the Stone!" Voldemort demanded. "Harry, you can't bring the dead back to life. It's a trick!" I wheezed out, turning my head to Harry. That snapped him out of his trance, and he shouted "YOU LIAR!" "Kill him!" Voldemort ordered. Quirrell flew towards us and he reached forward to throttle Harry. I climbed over Harry so that he wouldn't be touched and Quirrell started choking me instead. Between the lingering, internal pain from the spell and the fact that I was being strangled to death, I don't know which was worse. Suddenly I felt Quirrell's hands release my throat and weakly looked over to the side to see Harry dealing with Quirrell before everything went black.


	18. Chapter 17

I slowly woke up and it was bright everywhere. Then my vision adjusted and I found myself in the Hospital Wing. I saw get well cards on the bedside table and a gift basket by the edge of my bed with a tag from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. "Ah man, wha' happened? I remember what went down in the dungeon until Quirrell came at Harry an' me, but after that, nothing," I groaned holding my head. "Ezra! You're awake!" a familiar voice cried. I look to my right and saw Harry in a bed next to me. "Omigosh, Harry!" I smiled while we hugged each other, but pulled away because I felt incredibly sore. Harry explained, "You wouldn't wake up for hours after Dumbledore brought us in. Madam Pomfrey was starting to get worried." "Seriously?! Dang! That spell Quirrell hit me with really packed a whallop. By the way, what did happen between you two after I blacked out?" "When Quirrell started strangling you, I pried him off and he started to disintegrate when I touched him. He tried reaching for the Stone again, so I grabbed his face and he crumbled to dust. Then, Vol-, I mean You-Know-Who's ghost, phased right through me. I fell next to you and was knocked out, still holding the Stone," Harry explained.

"Harry, you can say his name around me. A name's just a name. It's the idea aroun' it that causes fear," I said. "So, what happened to the Stone, anyway?" I asked. "Dumbledore and Flamel destroyed it." Harry said. "What? But Flamel's gonna die if the Stone's destroyed." "Yeah, but he'll be alright for a little while before he dies. If you're wondering about the cards, Ron and Hermione came by earlier while we were asleep." "Aw, that's nice of them. But now that the Stone's gone, Voldemort ain't coming back, right?" "Actually, Dumbledore said there are ways that he _can_ come back…" Harry sighed. "Oh yeah, the whole school knows what we did down there." "For real?! Ain't nobody heard of somethin' called secrecy?" I said, worried about what would people would say when Madam Pomfrey released us. That made Harry chuckle a bit.

Ron and Hermione, along with the Quidditch team came to visit us. Without me and Harry to back them up, Gryffindor lost the chance for the Quidditch Cup. I could see the major disappointment in Oliver's face, but he didn't hold us accountable (thank god!). Fred and George were looking for the toilet seat they sent to Harry while we were asleep, but he told them that Madam Pomfrey discarded it, saying how it was unsanitary. "We're sorry for pretty much blaming you two," George pleaded. "We were right foul gits, treating you like it was your fault," Fred continued. "We're so sorry. If there's anything we can do to make it up to you, name it," they said, practically on their knees and begging. Harry politely refused their offer, but I wasn't so lenient, and turned my head away, not looking at them. "You guys did act like jerks, or gits in your case, so you two should know that I'm not as forgiving as Harry. Y'all kinda deserved that huge loss." "We're not asking for much, just say you'll forgive us," Fred pleaded with George sniffling. Harry somehow knew I didn't mean what I was saying and was tryin' his darnest not to laugh and give it away. There was a hanging silence from me until I cracked a smile and said, "... Don't worry, I'm just kiddin'! Of course I forgive you!" "Oh, thank Merlin!" George sighed in relief. I pulled my favorite twin boys in for a hug and kissed their cheeks. It was at that moment that I coulda sworn I saw Fred's cheeks go red before Madam Pomfrey shooed them out saying that we needed our rest.

Madam Pomfrey officially discharged us the next day, after checking me over to make sure I hadn't suffered any internal damage or head trauma. We were littered with scratches and I had a couple of bad scrapes on my arm and knee, so I walked a with a bit of a limp. Harry had sprained his wrist and it was bandaged up. We came out to see Hermione and Ron waiting for us at the top of a staircase. We all grinned at each other, happy that we were all okay. "Alright, Ron?" Harry asked. "Alright, you?" Ron replied. "Right as rain. Hermione?" I asked. "Never better" Hermione said.

It was our last complete day at Hogwarts. We all walked back to the Great Hall and took our seats with the rest of Gryffindor. The overhead banners were decorated in Slytherin colors. _Great. Slytherin's gonna have braggin' rights over us for the next year! This sucks!_ Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet to get everyone's attention. Dumbledore stood up to announce the House Cup winner. "Another year, gone. And now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding, and the points stand as thus. In fourth place, Gryffindor with 312 points." The other houses clapped politely, but I felt bitter at how low we sunk point-wise. "Third place, Hufflepuff: with 352 points. In second place, Ravenclaw with 426 points." We clapped politely for them. "And in first place, with 472 points, Slytherin House." Everyone at Slytherin table cheered for themselves, even Snape. Made sense, he's the head of that house. We didn't make the effort to clap knowing that students like Malfoy were going to rub this in our faces

"Yes, well done, Slytherin. Well done, _however_... recent events must be taken into consideration. I have a few last-minute points to award. First, to Miss Hermione Granger: for the cool use of intellect while others were in grave peril, 50 points." We clapped for Hermione and she smiled in bashfulness. "Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley: for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen these many years, 50 points." Ron gasped like he had won the most prestigious award on earth and everyone clapped for him. "Third, to Miss Ezra Redcreek: for perseverance and undying loyalty towards those close to her in times of distress, 55 points." _No way! For real?_ I received claps and side hugs from my friends around me as I felt my ears and face get hot. "Fourth, to Mr. Harry Potter: for pure nerve and outstanding courage, 60 points." Everyone cheered loudly for him. "And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. Therefore, I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom." Now everyone's heads turned to Neville and cheered for him. "Assuming that my calculations are correct, I believe that a change in decoration is in order," the headmaster declared and clapped. The overhead banners changed color and symbol. Instead of green and silver with a snake, they were gold and scarlet with a lion. "Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" Everyone cheered and threw their caps into the air like you do at graduation. All of our housemates were congratulating us, indicating that all was forgiven from the 200-point deduction a few days ago.

The next day, everyone was finishing packing up for the train trip back home. Ron, Hermione, and I found an empty car and waited for Harry. He had stopped to hug Hagrid and say goodbye to him before boarding, and came back with a book tucked under his arm. "Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?" Hermione asked. "I'm not going home. Not really," Harry replied.

The train ride surprisingly went faster on the trip back than it did on the way to school. We all exchanged addresses to write to each other. "You must come stay this summer, all three of you. I'll owl you" Ron urged. "Thanks! I'll need something to look forward to," Harry said, relieved. When we reached Platform 9¾, people spilled out of the train to meet their families and called out: "Bye Harry!" "See you, Potter!" Ron cheekily grinned at his friend and said, "Still famous." "Not where I'm going, I promise you," Harry responded.

"How are you getting back to the States, Ez?" Ron asked me. "I'll either go back by Floo Powder or the No-Maj way and take a plane," I sighed, remembering a letter my mom wrote explaining how they would pick me up once school was out. We had gathered our carts and passed through the barrier in order to go back to the Muggle station. Mrs. Weasley was waiting for her sons with Ron's younger sister Ginny who was pointing at Harry, excited to see him. "Be quiet, Ginny. It's rude to point," Mrs. Weasley scolded. "Busy year?" "Very; thank you for the fudge and sweater, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. "Oh, it was nothing, dear," she smiled at him. Then she turned to me and asked, "Is this another one of your friends, Ron?" "Yeah, that's Ezra; the student from America I told you about," Ron replied. "Pleasure to meet you, dearie," she said shaking my hand. "Likewise, Mrs. Weasley. That sweater...I mean, jumper, you made was great, thank you!" I said. "Glad you like it."

Right around that time, a familiar voice called, "Ezra, where are ya, Chief?" "Hey Dad, I'm over here." My parents came over after I responded. My mom hugged me and my dad swung me in the air. "Shoot kid, I hope you failed your class an' hated Hogwarts, cause you ain't never goin' back there! We've missed you too much," Dad said seriously but cracked when Mom gave him a light swat. "Tyler!/Daddy!" "But on a serious note, we really did miss you. So, how was your first year?" Mom wanted to know. "It was…eventful, but yeah, this year was good," I said. "You need to give us all of the details, Ez," she directed. Hermione quietly said, " _Ahem_ ," and I quickly said, "Well, maybe not _all_ of the details…but yeah, I will." Mom and Dad introduced themselves to Mrs. Weasley and Hermione's parents. "Are these your new friends you've told us so much about?" Mom asked as she turned to me. I pointed over to Ron and his family. "Yeah, this is Ron Weasley, his brothers, and sister. On the other side is Hermione Granger. And in the middle is Harry Potter." "It's a pleasure to meet all of you kids!" Mom said excitedly. "Pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Redcreek," my friends replied. "You can visit us in California anytime y'all want. I'm still getting used to the whole owl-mail system, so Ezra'll tell us if you three want to come," Dad offered. "Thanks, Mr. Redcreek."

"Ready, are you?" came a threatening voice beside us. I turned around and saw a beefy man with a bushy mustache, and a purple face. Next to him was a pencil-thin woman and a boy about Harry's age, just a big as his father. _These must be Harry's aunt, uncle, and cousin._ All three of them looked like they were slightly afraid of Harry. "You must be Harry's family," Mrs. Weasley said. "In a matter of speaking," his uncle muttered. "Hurry up, boy. We haven't got all day." Harry's relatives turned and hurried as quick as they could away from us. "Uh, I hope you have a good summer vacation, Harry" I said uneasily, not wanting to rile up his uncle in case he heard. "Oh, I will," Harry replied. "They don't know that we're not allowed to use magic outside at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer." Hermione, Ronand I smiled and watched him and his family drive away.

 **Author's Note: And that's that. Thanks so much to those who favorited and/or followed this story! It took almost two months to complete, but it was worth it! I might start up a "Chamber of Secrets" version soon, for anyone who's interested. Don't forget to review about anything in this fanfic.**

 **ALL THINGS HARRY POTTER BELONG TO JK ROWLING! MY ONLY CREATION IS EZRA REDCREEK AND ANY OTHER OCs IN THIS STORY!**


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